Poll Automation: Make or Break for Comelec

Published on July 23, 2009

This potential constitutional problem has become palpable given a finding by the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) in its report of October 2008 about the poll body’s lack of IT competence and the imperative of a “change management” in preparation for the automated election. Now after two months of waiting, the Comelec has finally approved CenPEG’s request for a copy of the source code for review. This week, the commission’s spokesman asked the public for guidelines on how to conduct the review – something that the Comelec itself should have done at the start of its automation preparations this year.

There are more legal and technical issues on the AES that have been raised with the Comelec (see www.cenpeg.org for various reports and news releases) that are numerous to mention in this analysis. On the technical side, is Comelec’s lack of database on the Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS pictures the existence, availability and capability of the country’s infrastructure system such as telecommunication, cell sites, internet providers, satellite system, topography, road and sea networks that will service the 80,000 AES machines all over the country. The election modernization law, RA 9369, stresses that the technology should be “suitable to local conditions”. At this point nobody has any idea how all the required infrastructures will work. The GIS, which the Comelec should have completed in 2006, is now left for completion with the winning consortium.

Lack of transparency

Of immediate interest to the country’s 50 million voters as well as political parties and poll watchers is the system’s lack of transparency and the corresponding adjudication process for election protests. After the voter marks the ballot at the precinct, the rest of the process from scanning, storing, and counting to transmission, canvassing, and consolidation is left with the machine without being seen by the naked eye. Yet election mandates secret/private voting and public counting and the voter has the right know how his/her vote is processed. The Comelec says it will post the election results on the public website – but how many of the country’s 50 million voters can access that?

Moreover, voting and counting will be done in 2-3 days but at the cost of the citizen losing his/her right not only to monitor everything but to file election protests given the time constraint. Even if filed, however, will not the lack of clear laws and adjudication process to entertain electronic-generated poll contests – which are anticipated to be numerous – trigger street protests?

There are numerous obstacles that must be hurdled and several safeguards and security systems installed – and for Comelec to tell voters “trust us” and “trust the machine” simply will not bite.

It would have been more sensible for both those who authored the election modernization law and the Comelec to do it slow and in phases, as what the few countries that have introduced electronic voting did. Whether modernized or not, no election system will bring democracy to the people and a just government elected unless the systemic problem of fraud which is run by powerful politicians in and out of government is addressed decisively and comprehensively. In this area, not only the Comelec but also Congress seems to be wanting. (Cenpeg / bulatlat.com)

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