Comelec to complete probe on ‘mysterious digital lines’ this month

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MANILA – The Commission on Election’s (Comelec’s) investigation on the mysterious “digital lines” that appeared on ballots during the 2013 elections is expected to be completed this month.

Comelec conducted the probe because of the possibility that the said lines have affected the counting of the votes made via the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Despite this recent development, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, chairman of the joint congressional oversight body expressed his disappointment in the seemingly slow pace of the inquiry.

He added that the issue will not fade as the committee on the automated election system will still keep its attention on the said matter.

Some of the ballots were reported to have been affected by the digital lines because the ballots were bisected by several of the ovals that the voters shaded during the voting process.

This may have resulted to the nullification of some votes or several votes may have been counted for another candidate.

Pimentel reiterated the importance of knowing the real score of the problem as it may have significant effects on the results of the voting process.

“They can affect the results in closely contested elections. And which candidate would not want an accurate count of his votes?” he told reporters.