MANILA, March 28 -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to automate the succeeding Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) after the Oct. 30, 2023 polls.

"There is no turning back for us anymore. Let us proceed with the automation. We can no longer proceed using the manual elections," Comelec chairman George Garcia said in a press briefing Tuesday.

He noted that they want to use the automated election system (AES) for the welfare of Electoral Board (EBs) members and to help reduce election-related violence incidents.

"If we allow early voting hours for senior citizens, persons with disability, pregnant women, indigenous people, it would mean that teachers will need to be in their assigned precincts as early as ...