Second round of automated elections set

“There are sectors that still doubt our automated election system. Despite that, the 2013 elections will push through and it will be automated again,” Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said in a report from The Philippine Star.

Comelec purchased the Precinct Count Optical Scanners (PCOS) chartered by Smartmatic International Corporation in 2010. For the upcoming senatorial elections, more than 81,000 PCOS machines were purchased for P1.8 billion, given the minimal budget of P7 billion.

Electoral reform groups Automated Election System (AES) Watch as well as the Center for People Empowerment in Governance criticized the move as officials mentioned flaws in the PCOS machines used during the 2010 polls.

The first round

Last May 2010, then Senate President Jinggoy Estrada spearheaded House Bill No. 5715, which approved a supplemental budget of P 11.3-billion for the automation of the 2010 presidential and senatorial elections.

Opposition from Information Technology (IT) professionals and Senate members such as Senators “Chiz” Escudero and Loren Legarda were evident. Despite such, Senator Edgardo Angara, Chair of the Senate finance committee and sponsor of the committee report stated that the budget would restore faith and confidence in the government, especially in the electoral system. Full automation under the PCOS would also reduce instances of fraud, as well as complaints from voters because the system assures speed and accuracy, said former Comelec chairman Jose Melo.

On the other hand, groups revealed skepticism because the PCOS machines were not tested on a nationwide level. A week before the 2010 elections, a report from The Diplomat stated that a flawed software command was found in the compact flash cards to be inserted in the machines, affecting the ability of the machine to produce accurate results. The poll body had to reconfigure all cards, which almost caused the postponement or cancellation of the elections.

Reports from various observers stated that the 2010 automated elections was a success. Others, such as the Carter Center group claimed in their reports that it lacked transparency and efficiency, along with suggestions to improve the system for its next usage.

Tried and tested

To increase voters’ awareness on the voting process for the upcoming senatorial elections, Comelec launched a total of 23 PCOS demo centers in all cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) last March 2013, as stated in an article by Solar News. Mock elections were also held last February 2, 2013 in 10 different cities and municipalities.

A report from The Philippine Star explains that apart from the small number of attendees, technical glitches were observed in the PCOS machines, greatly affecting two major voting centers in Metro Manila. Ballots were rejected in some machines, which were replaced immediately. The initialization of several machines was delayed because the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) faced problems in keying the pin code, and one PCOS machine had to be re-initialized to ensure it was empty of redundant data.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes inferred in a report by Rappler that the inactivity of the machines for almost three years caused the glitches. “But we already have [contingency] plans if things like this [happen],” he added.

Finalizing

The source code for the 2013 elections will be released this week for independent reviewing, Brillantes said in the Rappler article. However, the complete source code review will not be ready by May 13. The source code is the programming software of all PCOS machines responsible for launching the counting, canvassing, and transmission of votes on Election Day.

Rappler also reported that a legal battle is ongoing between Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, the company that owns the technology. The source code for the upcoming elections has been withheld by Dominion for reasons regarding “proprietary rights.”

Brillantes affirmed in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, “Last Friday (May 3), Smartmatic and Dominion have signed an agreement in America to allow the 2013 source code to be brought to the Philippines.”

Furthermore, during the final testing and sealing (FTS) of the PCOS machines conducted last May 6, 2013, Brillantes stated that the few glitches encountered can be fixed before Election Day, and that the manual audit was correct.

The voting process

On the day of elections, voters will shade the ovals allotted for the names of candidates and political parties. The ballots which feature security markings will be inserted into the optical machine readers available in various sectors of the Philippines. These readers will record and store the votes.

Comelec officials stated that voting would technically remain manual, although its calculation and transmission of votes would be automated.

Results of the elections will be released in two days.