MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said the ongoing Random Manual Audit (RMA) of the May 12 elections so far showed that the accuracy rate between the automated counting machines (ACMs) and the manual tally was at 99.997 percent.
“So far, 99.997 percent accuracy rate on the ballots that have been audited,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said in a press briefing at the in Pasay City.
“We expect to get a report next week,” he added.
A total of 723 ballots have undergone RMA as of the time of the press briefing. The Comelec expects the audit of the remaining ballot boxes to be finished within the day.
Garcia said the current accuracy rate was higher than the 99.94 percent recorded in the May 2022 national and local elections.
He also said RMA results have yet to be questioned.
“Since 2010, there were no questions regarding RMA result,” Garcia said.
The RMA is the manual examination of the ballots cast to validate the count of the machines used in the elections. The votes to be counted are for senator, party-list group, congressional representative, and mayor.
Section 29 of the Automated Election System (AES) Act states that “there shall be a random manual audit in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Commission in each province and city” where the AES is used.
