3 VCMs in PH consulate in New York malfunction; ballot feeding proceeds

Ballot feeding as of 3AM at the Philippine Consulate General in New York. Screengrab from Facebook / Phil Consulate General in New York

MANILA, Philippines — The staff members of the Philippine Consulate General in New York are working overtime to keep up with its scheduled ballot feeding after three vote counting machines (VCMs) earlier malfunctioned and caused a slight delay.

Philippine Consul General Elmer Cato on Wednesday said ballot feeding in the consulate has completely resumed after three of the four VCMs designated to the post earlier experienced technical issues, prompting them to suspend the activity.

“This morning, we actually sent our staff to go to Washington para humiram ng isang VCM dahil kailangan namin dito dalawa [to borrow one VCM because we need two here],” Cato told Teleradyo in an interview.

But before the staff member reached Washington, the consulate was able to successfully troubleshoot two of the three VCMs that earlier malfunctioned.

This means that the consulate now has three usable VCMs, with one serving as a standby machine.

“Nagkaroon lang ng delay…kailangan maghabol kami ngayon [There was a delay…we need to catch up],” Cato said, but expressed confidence that the consulate will be able to feed ballots as scheduled.

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“Konting delay lang pero our personnel are willing to work overtime just to be able to catch up kasi ang dami-daming balota yung dumadating everyday, dumadating by mail at may mga kababayan tayo dito na pumupunta sa konsulado para i-drop yung kanilang mga balota,” he added.

(It was only a slight delay but our personnel are willing to work overtime just to be able to catch up because there are a lot of ballots coming in everyday, either by mail or those being dropped off in person at the consulate.)

Cato meanwhile noted the number of ballots either being mailed back or dropped off at the consulate.

“According to our personnel at the Philippine Center who who have been here in previous elections, observation nila, mas marami yung talagang nagpa-participate ngayon dahil everyday daw puno yung ballot receptacle doon sa lobby, ‘di raw nila ito nakita dati,” the consul general said.

(According to our personnel at the Philippine Center who who have been here in previous elections, their observations is there are more Filipinos participating now because everyday, the ballot receptacle in the lobby is full, they did not see this in the previous election.)

The consulate has jurisdiction over the northeastern United States. This includes 39,048 registered Filipino overseas voters in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

EDV