Comelec orders PES to deliver printed election returns within 3 days after May 10 polls

MANILA, March 18 (PNA) -- The Commission on Elections has directed all provincial election supervisors (PES) to deliver all printed election returns (ERs) to the Comelec central office in Manila and Congress not later than May 13 or three days after the May 10 polls.

“In all instances, the PES shall see to it that the delivering of copies of the ERs at intervals of 12 hours or shorter, when possible, is faithfully complied with to the end that all copies of the ERs for Congress and the Commission are delivered not later than May 13, 2010,” the poll body said in Resolution 8803 issued on March 16.

After receiving the ERs, the PES is ordered to designate a “senior and able” election assistant which will be tasked to transmit the data to Congress and the Comelec head office.

The three-page resolution added that there should be security escorts and watchers of the candidates, parties, organizations or coalition when transmission is being processed.

The poll body said that ERs should be placed in envelopes to be deposited inside the ballot boxes, to be secured by three padlocks.

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said the resolution was approved to ensure that the process of the canvassing would be completed as soon as possible.

Upon the closing of the voting hours on Election Day, eight copies of ERs will be initially printed by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

Another 22 copies will be printed after the electronic results have been transmitted to different servers in the municipality/city/provincial canvassing centers and Comelec central office.

A total of 30 ERs will be printed by the machines. (PNA)
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