The Philippines, Manila – 17 September, 2018 – The Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has exercised its option to purchase a total of 97,350 Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) from Smartmatic. The technology will be used in the upcoming 2019 midterm national and local elections.
“Since the first automated national election in 2010 the Philippines has been spearheading election modernization in the region. We are proud to be part of this transformation. We are committed to continue strengthening our relationship with the Philippines to facilitate more efficient and transparent elections,” said Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic.
Aside from the voting machines, Smartmatic delivered 93,826 headphones; 93,826 modems; and hardware for the Election Management System that supports the operations of the entire automated platform.
The delivery of the hardware was finished earlier this year while the software will be delivered by the end of the year.
In 2008, Smartmatic began providing election technology to the Philippines. Since, it has provided election technology and services in three national elections to some 55 million voters registering 3.1 billion votes.
Election automation has had a positive impact in the Philippines. After the last national election, held in 2016, Pulse Asia conducted a survey to gauge the opinion of Filipino voters. The overwhelming majority of Filipinos gave a positive verdict on the elections and the technology. 89% of respondents would like to see automated voting in future elections.
