MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a pilot test for a new system that would verify a voter's identity based on a finger scan, the poll body's spokesperson said Thursday, 2 days before a scheduled mock voting for the 2019 midterm elections.

Voter Registration Verification Machines (VRVM) would be stationed in select precincts during the January 19 mock elections, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters.

If the name of the voter cannot be verified through the VRVM's auto search and a manual search done by polling officials, the voter will not be allowed to cast his ballot and will be asked to leave the polling place, he said.

"It’s to ensure na kung dapat ka talagang makaboto, hindi ka ma-disenfranchise simply because sumablay ang bagong sistema na pina-pilot test," Jimenez told reporters.

• Comelec to hold mock elections for 2019 midterm polls

- with a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News