COTABATO CITY - The Commission on Elections announced today that despite the continuing hostilities between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and military in North Cotabato, a significant number of Maguindanao voters trooped to the polling centers to exercise their right to vote.

COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez said that today’s ARMM polls is a significant milestone in election reform in the country saying that voters showed enthusiasm in using automated voting machines amid security problems.

“We have seen the long queues of voters eagerly waiting for their turn to vote using the electronic voting machines,” Jimenez said.

“We are so heartened about the initial positive voting turn out. With the new technology, the people of Maguindanao are more motivated vote than ever before,” Jimenez added.

Vince Dizon of Smartmatic-Sahi said that the computer glitches encountered in some precincts should not be considered a major problem because our field support technicians assigned in each precinct were quick to resolve those problems.

“We have deployed back-up machines to serve as contingency in case any of the machines bog down,” Dizon added.

Despite some isolated cases of computer glitches, the voters that have experienced using the automated voting machines were satisfied saying that it was more convenient and easy to use than the manual voting.

With the new electronic voting machines being used in Maguindanao, it is expected that more voters will be more enthusiastic to vote compared with the past elections.

A total of 245,415 registered voters are expected to vote in Maguindanao today. ###