Antique: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Antique has confirmed that all 729 automated counting machines (ACMs) distributed across the province's 17 towns are fully functional, with the exception of one machine in the municipality of Caluya pending its final testing and sealing (FTS).
According to Philippines News Agency, Wil Arce±o, the Comelec Acting Assistant Regional Director and concurrent Provincial Election Supervisor, reported that a technical issue arose with one of the 40 ACMs deployed to Caluya during the simultaneous FTS conducted on Wednesday. The problem involved a malfunctioning universal serial bus, which necessitated the postponement of the FTS in one of Caluya's clustered precincts.
Arce±o explained that the election officer in Caluya needed to obtain a contingency universal serial bus from the provincial technical hub to continue with the FTS process. Despite this setback, Arce±o noted that other minor complaints were observed during the FTS across the 17 municipalities, but overall, the ACMs operated effectively.
He highlighted some minor issues, such as blot marks on ballots caused by the marker, advising voters to shade lightly during the elections on May 12. Arce±o reassured voters that the ACM shading threshold has been adjusted to 15 percent, ensuring that even a small dot on the official ballot will be sufficient for the vote to be counted.