The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use a mixed automated election system (AES) in the 2016 polls.
Reports said the Comelec en banc has agreed to reuse the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and to purchase another voting technology as recommended by Commission on Elections Advisory Council (CAC).
The nine-member council’s recommendation was made public last Thursday during the hearing of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System at the Senate.
“In principle, it has been decided to use the mixed technology. It is not a total adoption but we are basically following the CAC recommendation, although there will be some modifications,” a poll insider said.
Besides the PCOS machines, Comelec will also look for a second technology that will be acquired through public bidding.
“The basic criterion that we will ensure for the second technology is that it should be compatible with our PCOS machines,” he added.
Among the technologies that the CAC has recommended are the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) system and the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE), as secondary technology. Internet voting has also been recommended for Filipinos abroad.
