Comelec eyeing Cebu as pilot area for touch screen voting

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Elections is looking at using touch screen voting in the 2016 national elections, and Cebu is one of the possible pilot areas.

Lawyer Rafael Olaño, the new Comelec-7 director, said the Comelec Central Office advisory council recommended an automated election system for the next elections.

This includes the use of direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines which have touch screen features.

Olaño said that unlike the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology currently used by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, voters no longer have to shade their ballots under this voting system innovation, speeding up the casting and canvassing of votes.

Olaño, though, said that considering its cost and compatibility to the Filipino culture, the Comelec en banc is still studying the possibility of using DRE as replacement for PCOS.

In a Rappler report, Comelec Chairman Calixto Brillantes Jr. noted that DRE machines would be very costly if it would completely replace PCOS machines.

He said five to 10 DRE machines would be needed in each precinct, or around 800,000 units, costing the country an estimated P55 billion for the 80,000 polling precincts.

Olaño said there would also be voters who would believe that a voting system that provide ballots as more credible.

“Naghahanap pa rin tayo ng paper trail eh, yong balota na makikita. Wala pa tayong masyadong bilib doon sa hindi nakikita (We still look for a paper trail. We do not yet trust a system where we cannot see our vote),” he said during the Comelec Cebu general assembly at the Capitol Social Hall yesterday.

Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Cebu provincial election supervisor, said there would still be a need for voters’ education and the conduct of trainings for teachers before the new system could be applied.

The DRE voting system was first used during the 2008 elections at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Castillano said that based on that experience, the Comelec has seen the negative side of the DRE system.

“After you voted you go to somebody who paid you, present the receipt and say I voted for you,” he added.

Also yesterday, Comelec reminded voters of that biometrics submission is mandatory. Those with incomplete data would no longer be allowed to vote in 2016 elections.

Olaño said there are around 500,000 voters in Central Visayas who have incomplete biometrics data. (FREEMAN)