Philippines' 2010 Automated Polls
Shanaz Marie Well, March 18, 2010, Germany
Hamburg, Germany for Philippines – After the Automated Electoral System Act was put into law in 2007 and the Supreme Court En Banc Resolution dated February 10, 2010 upholding the legality of contract between the Commission on Election and joint venture of Smartmatic Corporation – Total Information Management (TIM), Inc., the Philippine national election this year shall push through to the first election ever to use the so-called automation in the history of Philippine elections.
Equipments for the automated polls were purchased and trainings of professional technicians, supervisors, and consolidation canvassing technicians were done. In an online interview with Ma. Joesa Torres, a designated supervisor for the 2010 automated polls for the town of Infanta in the province of Pangasinan, she said that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine, transmission devices, memory cards including back-up memory cards, thermal papers, and contingency kits will be used during the counting of votes and transmission of results on the May 10 polls.
Torres, before she qualified as a PCOS machine Supervisor, must 1) be a graduate of computer-related degree, 2) submit her qualifications through a curriculum vitae to the election officer in her town, 3) undergo the supervisory training conducted by Smartmatic-TIM, 4) pass the written and actual demonstration examination given by Smartmatic-TIM, and 5) withstand the protocols set by the automated polling officers before, during, and after the election. Torres said that her experiences as a poll watcher during the previous elections would be incomparable to her experience as a PCOS machine supervisor for the first automated election in the Philippines. “Although there are many people who might disagree to this year’s automated polls, I would personally recommend it. The public teachers who are normally having sore-throat during the ballot counting will now be at ease. They still have their voices the next day because they do not need to shout here and there a thousand times mentioning the names of the candidates the voters chose to vote one after the other. I think there will be more peace, more quiet, and more orderly election this time,” she explained.
Torres emphasized that she does not see any failure of election in her town as it was always been peaceful even during the manual elections. Besides, she said, that the automated election will diminish the possibility of cheating because the PCOS machine has internationally recognized security mechanisms. On the other hand, Torres mentioned that the automated polls is on its premier status on May 14, 2010. “We will never know what extraordinary situation might come inconceivable, but as supervisor of this machine, I will do my best to follow the legal protocols, the honesty and discipline that I have as a citizen not only for my town but also for my country,” she said. “The only problem that I can see as of the moment is that voters need to be properly informed on the process of automated polls,” she added.
On the February 10, 2010 Supreme Court Resolution, the Court emphasized a message, which every Filipino voter needs to know. The Court “will not venture to say that nothing could go wrong in the conduct of the 2010 nationwide automated elections. Neither will it guarantee, as it is not even equipped with the necessary expertise to guarantee, the effectiveness of the voting machines and the integrity of the counting and consolidation software embedded in them. That difficult and complex undertaking belongs at the first instance to the Comelec as part of its mandate to insure orderly and peaceful elections. The Comelec, as it were, is laboring under a very tight timeline. It would accordingly need the help of all advocates of orderly and honest elections, all men and women of goodwill, to assist Comelec personnel in addressing the fears expressed about the integrity of the system. After all, peaceful, fair, honest, and credible elections is everyone’s concern."