Padilla Rivera indicated that the SEC looked into the issue concerning at least 20 voters marked as deceased in the SEC records and discovered that it was a mistake.
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According to the agency’s Alternate Chairwoman, Jessika Padilla Rivera, the State Election Commission will withhold results until the actions from each precinct are rectified.
“We are still addressing what is left of precinct 1 of San Juan, what’s remaining in precinct two, and proceeding with precinct 3. We are diligently reviewing the actions to ultimately ensure that they are all 100 percent accurate, which has been our greatest challenge in the past few days. We are still observing results in the dissemination system on the official website of the State Election Commission. Gradually, we desire to see more results, but until we confirm that the minutes are accurate, we will refrain from releasing results that do not align with the system,” Padilla Rivera stated during a press conference on Saturday.
“Out of 114 precincts, we are currently addressing the first three in San Juan; the remaining 111 are still in progress. I understand that some tables have already completed (precinct) 4. Various (working) areas do not all function simultaneously, so when one completes its work, the others may still be ongoing,” she noted.
All ballot boxes from precinct 1 are present at the counting tables. “However, there are still outstanding reports that have not been reconciled from precinct 1, even if the ballot box has been submitted and the entirety of precinct 1 has been attended to in the first area, which is what is currently being handled. In such cases, it returns to the table to reconcile that ballot box. Therefore, we need to accurately determine what has already been entered into the page as 100 percent reconciled,” she added.
The situation is exacerbated due to a lack of officials available to balance the minutes concerning direct nomination votes.
“This is our priority, it is what we have emphasized all these days; we are placing significant and special focus on balancing the actions. We did not see high participation in the direct nominations during the prior scrutiny, which directly impacts the other positions on the legislative ballot. This is time-consuming. We cannot proceed with a record unless it is balanced. The delay we are witnessing showcases that the work is being carried out thoroughly and that we are not, as is often said in the jargon of the tables, we are not mishandling the actions,” she explained.
“We are handling them correctly. What doesn’t align is returned. Do we wish to see advances? Absolutely, we all desire to see progress, but we cannot equate this scrutiny with those of previous years because we have not encountered such a significant increase in direct nominations on the legislative ballot, which entails other adjustments and impacts on other positions,” she stated.
The alternate president mentioned that the electoral commissioners will soon decide on whether to extend the work schedule.
Moreover, Padilla Rivera indicated that the SEC scrutinized the case of at least 20 voters recorded as deceased in the SEC database and confirmed that it was indeed an error.
“The manually added lists include those voters who are not present in the regular polling station; they are added manually and evaluated for exclusion due to death. The lists we have received show that they are excluded due to death. Upon investigation, it seems that just yesterday morning, we identified 20 cases of individuals excluded due to death who are, in reality, alive and have voted. These are living individuals who, due to an error, were excluded and proceeded to vote. Hence, what we have observed regarding individuals excluded due to death stems from a system error, and they are confirmed to be alive,” Padilla Rivera noted in a press conference.
“How does this process work? It is directed to the list from the secretariat for the Special Secretariat Board (JES in Spanish). They manage what pertains to inclusion. When comparing the names excluded due to death with those pending inclusion, the names match, and this task of adding is performed manually and confirmed that the individual is indeed not deceased,” she added.
The electoral commissioner representing the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), Karla Angleró González, denounced the irregularity on Thursday.
