Namfrel now to tally, count, canvass votes

Good bye, quick count.

The name of the game for the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) is now tally, count and canvass.

Namfrel was not accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as its citizen’s arm in the May 10 automated elections after the poll body ruled that its leaders were partisan.

The task was given to the Catholic Church-backed Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.

However, Namfrel announced Wednesday that it would still make an independent count of the votes.

Namfrel officials said they had advised their affiliated groups and volunteers to get a copy of the election returns (ER) before and after these are transmitted by the precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS) to the canvassing centers.

As the Comelec’s citizens’ arm in the past elections, Namfrel used to get the sixth copy of the ERs for its “operation quick count” that kept the nation informed of results way ahead of the Comelec tabulations.

Website

“We will tally the results on our website, www.namfrel.com.ph. We will be collecting data from the field,” Bill Luz, Namfrel council member, said.

Namfrel will tabulate the consolidated results for the presidential, vice presidential and senatorial races, he said. “It’s not quick count anymore. It’s tally, count and canvass.”

Luz said the Namfrel count will not depend on the data available on the Comelec website and can be compared by the public with the official results.

The Comelec has announced that results of voting at the precinct level will be posted immediately on the Comelec website. However, tabulated results in the national contests will be posted periodically and this is where Namfrel will have added value.

ER photograph

Because Namfrel is not accredited and will not get the ERs this time, its volunteers have been instructed to get a picture of the ERs that will be posted in the precinct immediately after the first eight copies of ERs are printed.

They will also have to secure an ER that will be printed after it had been transmitted to the canvassing centers.

The PCOS machine will print a total of 30 ERs after the close of the elections.

The first eight will be printed and given to various election authorities before transmission to the canvassing centers.

After the results had been sent to the canvassing centers, the PCOS will print 22 more ERs for the use of various local parties, media groups and poll watchdog organizations.