Twenty precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that will be used to train teachers who will serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) for the2010 elections have arrived in the country, Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez said Friday.

In an interview, Jimenez said the machines will help brief the teachers on the new mechanisms for the 2010 automated polls.

“The machines have arrived and they are now at the Bureau of Customs. This is what we will use to teach our BEIs what they will do come election time,” he said.

However, the training will not start until next January pending the finalization of the list of BEIs. The machines, he added, also need to be customized.

Jimenez said that to ensure transparencyin the election process, they will make sure that assigned BEIs will not have their relatives voting in their designated posts.

He said that they are coordinating closely with the Department of Education (DepEd) on the final listing of teachers to be assigned for poll duty.

Over 80,000 PCOS machines are expected to be used in next year’s elections.