Over 760 precincts in the country will be covered by the Random Manual Audit (RMA) that will be conducted right after the holding of the May 12 National and Local Elections (NLE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) bared Monday.

According to Comelec Chairperson George Garcia, a total of 762 polling precincts will be randomly selected after the scheduled polls.

“We will use an electronic raffle system to select the 762 polling precincts to be subjected to the RMA,” he said after the launch of the Random Manual Audit Committee (RMAC) in Pasay City.

The poll body chief added that one Philippine post abroad that used the online voting system will also be included in the RMA.

“It is possible to cover more Philippine posts abroad for the RMA depending on the request of the Committee,” Garcia said.

The RMA will be checking if the poll results produced by the voting machines match the manually counted ballots.

“The public, especially those doubting the election results, should wait for the results of the RMA as it will be the one to determine if the votes counted by the machines are correct,” he said.

At the same time, the Comelec head reported that since the 2010 polls, the RMA has had 99.9 percent accuracy rates between the manual and automated counting results.

Under Comelec Resolution 11089, the number of polling precincts covered by the RMA is based on the proportional number of clustered precincts in every legislative district nationwide.

Also, only one Philippine post shall be randomly selected from the list of areas that will use the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS).

Aside from the poll body, the other members of the RMAC are representatives of the Department of Education, Philippine Statistics Authority, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections, Legal Network for Truthful Elections, and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants. (PNA)