The country’s first automated national polls were characterized by widespread cases of malfunctioning precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and long queues at polling precincts. In many polling centers, elections have been delayed due to such technical glitches, aggravated by slow and poorly organized voting procedures, Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) members still familiarizing with the automated system, and IT consultants lacking skills. In some areas, problems were aggravated by power failure. There were also reports of poll-related violence in several areas, mostly in Luzon and Mindanao.

The first five hours of country’s first automated national elections have been characterized by delayed voting, slow and poorly organized voting system, and widespread PCOS machine malfunction. There were also sporadic reports of cases of poll-related violence in several areas.