Understanding the automated election system (2)

On Election Day, we go to our assigned precincts, approach the electoral board table and receive our ballots already pre-printed with the candidate names and an oval opposite each name; we shade the ovals opposite the candidate names of our choices and then feed the ballot into the vote counting machine (VCM). Then, we leave. Some of us come back in the evening to check out the precinct-counting of the votes, which, done by the vote counting machine, only takes a few minutes, beginning to end.

The results of the precinct-counting, referred to as the election returns, are transmitted electronically by the electoral board from the precincts to the city/municipality board of canvassers (CMBoC) to be consolidated by the CMBoC's computer server with the results coming from the other precincts in that city/municipality. The results of that consolidation make up the certificate of canvass (CoC), which then serves as the basis for the proclamation of the mayor, vice mayor and councilors for that city/municipality.