The Commission on Elections (Comelec) moved Wednesday to avert a shortage of 3,116 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines for the May 10, 2010, polls.

Smartmatic-TIM is obliged to deliver only 80,136 PCOS plus 2,064 spare units while the total number of clustered precincts to be set up is 85,316 based on the Projection of Precincts submitted by the election officers in 120 cities and 1,514 municipalities in the country.

The Comelec, led by Chairman Jose A. R. Melo, ordered that seven precincts instead of only five as provided in its en banc Resolution 8647 dated July 14, 2009, should be clustered into one to make up for the shortfall.

Melo said Item No. 3 of the guidelines on the clustering or grouping of established precincts as contained in Comelec en banc Resolution 8647 will now read as follows: “Clustered/grouped precincts shall not exceed seven (7) precincts taking into account the equitable distribution of the number of registered voters per precinct and the aggregate number of registered voters in the clustered/grouped precincts shall not exceed one thousand (1,000).”

Comelec en banc Resolution 8647, signed by Melo and Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Nicodemo T.

Ferrer, Lucenito N. Tagle, Armando C. Velasco, Elias R. Yusoph and Gregorio Y. Larrazabal, provides that the precincts to be clustered should belong to the same barangay and the same voting center and each precinct will maintain its own Election Day Computerized Voters List, Posted Computerized Voters List and Book of Voters.

“In no case shall the Election Day Computerized Voters List, Posted Computerized Voters List and the Book of voters of the clustered or grouped precincts be consolidated or merged,” Comelec said. Comelec said the automated election system uses a composite ballot that has all offices to be voted for printed on it.

“A voter marks the oval corresponding to the candidates of his choice with a special marking pen. The paper ballot is inserted into the PCOS unit which reads and deposits the ballot into an internal compartment of the ballot box,” Comelec officials said.

They added that after the close of voting, the PCOS unit prints the election returns showing the tabulated results and automatically transmits the results to the Municipal Board of Canvass, Central Backup Server, and additional location as required by the Comelec.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Larrazabal said the use of barcodes would help in tracking the ballots in the May, 2010 elections.

Larrazabal said the barcode which will be placed on the packet of ballots is similar to what is being used by couriers.

“It’s going to be barcode just like what the couriers use now for their shipment like DHL, UPS, FedEx everyone uses the same system,” he said.

Larrazabal said the use of a barcode would “ensure that the ballots will definitely go to the municipality where they are intended to go.”

“The tracking system will be from the precinct until the municipality,” added Larrazabal.

The poll official, however, said that they are still in the process of finalizing the details of the tracking system.

“We are finalizing the tracking system for the ballots delivered. Kasi the ballots will be printed at the NPO (National Printing Office)…as soon as the ballots are printed may tracking system na yan per precinct,” Larrazabal said. (With a report from Leslie Ann G. Aquino)