PCOS machine demo for Capiceños begins
ROXAS CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start its demonstration of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine in Dumarao and Cuartero towns on Feb. 23 to educate registered Capiceño voters to the new procedures in the casting and counting of votes for the May 10, 2010 polls.
The PCOS demonstration will be conducted in the province from Feb. 23 to March 6.
In a local radio interview, COMELEC Provincial Election Supervisor and lawyer Wil Arceño has encouraged the voters to participate in the scheduled voter’s education campaign in the province.
The Commission has recorded a total of 431,368 registered voters in Capiz based on its statistical data released last February 9.
During the public demonstration, participants will be briefed on how to shade their ballots and feed these into the machine.
The use of the PCOS will shorten the burden of manual counting and transmission of election results from precinct level to municipal and provincial board of canvassers.
The PCOS machines are capable of running even without an external power supply and require low power consumption. It can easily b\e connected to a variety of power sources including rechargeable batteries, inverters and portable generators.
The modernization of the electoral process is included in the 10-point agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration. (PIA/A.Lumaque)
