The Supreme Court (SC) ordered the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday to activate the Voter Verification Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) feature of the automated voting machines in the coming elections to allow the printing of a receipt once a voter casts his vote. In a unanimous vote of 14 justices in the ruling written by Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, the SC granted the Petition for Mandamus filed by the Bagumbayan-VNP Movement,Inc., and former Sen. Richard J. Gordon, the principal author of the Automated Election Law, Republic Act No. 9369. Gordon is running anew for a seat in the Senate in the May elections: The gist of the SC ruling was released by SC spokesman Theodore O. Te said: “The Commission on Elections is ordered to enable the vote verification feature of the vote counting machines, which prints the voter’s choices without prejudice to the issuance of guidelines to [...]
