It’s final: No poll automation

Poll automation is dead, at least for the May 14 elections.

This was the pronouncement of the advisory council tasked to determine the viability of automated elections in May.

In its ruling, the council affirmed an earlier recommendation against automating, even partially, the May 14 polls. It’s a position shared by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), despite the recent passage of the Automated Election System Law.

Lorenzo Formoso, advisory council spokesman, said the decision was "a question of prudence rather than possibility."

The council submitted its recommendation to the Comelec for approval. "The law cannot mandate the impossible," Formoso said.

The law requires the automation of the election system in at least six urbanized cities and six provinces. The council believes it is physically impossible for the Comelec to implement the law and that it might even create more problems if the poll body pushes through with it.

According to the advisory council, the Comelec does not have enough time to determine the most suitable package or off-the-shelf technology for automated elections.

And even assuming that there is equipment available that the Comelec can handle, the council said there is still the question of the readiness of voters to use an automated system.

"If poll automation is not properly tested, it would be vulnerable to hacking. A lot of bad things can come out if we will insist on pilot-testing poll automation," Formoso said.

Comelec information director James Jimenez said the commission will review the recommendation of the advisory council and make the appropriate decision.

"The Commission en banc will review the recommendation but most likely it will approve the recommendation," Jimenez said.

The Senate denounced the council’s ruling as it called for a public hearing on Tuesday on the AES.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws, told The STAR that the council is in no position to decide on the poll automation pilot-testing. Gordon is one of the principal authors of the poll automation law.

He pointed out that under the law, the advisory council is tasked only to determine and recommend to the Comelec which system to use.

In the end, he said it is still up to the Comelec to decide on whether or not to accept the findings of the advisory council.

Gordon said the advisory council’s resolution merely echoed the position of Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos.

"I am not surprised, in fact I expected it. It is clear that there was an indicative direction from the Comelec," Gordon said.

He criticized the Comelec and the advisory council for the lack of transparency in the discussions, even as he expressed belief that the systems providers were not included in the deliberations.

The Senator said there were at least two systems providers who were ready to supply the needed machines or software.

He said Botong Pinoy, a local company, has the software for the AES and the paper-based machines used in the San Francisco, California elections held late last year.

"I have a bias. Botong Pinoy is good with me because it is Filipino," Gordon said.

He said that the Botong Pinoy software was successfully tested in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City, and that its paper-based machines proved effective in San Francisco.

Gordon even recommended that the Philippines lease the San Francisco machines for the May elections.

He also criticized the Comelec for insisting that automation cannot be done when it is very willing to test Internet voting for the Filipinos in Singapore despite the absence of a law to support this.

Unlike internet voting, Gordon stressed that the selected automation of the May elections is mandated by law and with an appropriate budget.

"They cannot override Congress. We cannot allow Congress to be sideswiped by the Comelec," Gordon said.

Even though Congress has adjourned for three months for the elections, the hearing called for by Gordon would be possible because of the directive from the President for a two-day special session on Monday and Tuesday.

Top officials of the Comelec will be invited to the hearing.

Gordon said he feared the Comelec was blocking automation to make it easier for favored candidates to cheat.

Gordon also called on the President to come out with her position on the issue, saying it was she who certified the measure as urgent.

"The silence of the President is deafening," Gordon said.

Low turnout

Philippine diplomatic missions expect a low turnout in the overseas absentee voting because more Filipinos, especially those working and residing abroad, are dissatisfied with Philippine politics, said an election official who requested anonymity.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Comelec expected a significant increase in new registrants when the registration for absentee voting started in 87 diplomatic posts in more than 50 countries.

But of the total 507,423 registered Filipinos for the overseas absentee voting, the official said only 143,236 are new registrants.

"The registration rate is not very impressive. Most of those who left the Philippines would not want to rejoin election or defray from joining electoral exercises," the official said.

In the 2004 elections, only 65 percent of the 364,187 registered Filipinos for absentee voting actually trooped to the polling stations.

The official also attributed the possibility of lower voter turnout to Filipinos’ perception that the senatorial election was less challenging than the presidential election.

The DFA, the official said, has been getting feedback from diplomatic missions abroad expressing fear that voters’ turnout would be less than 65 percent.

But he said the low turnout may be "part of the growing pains when you do it the first time and even second time."

The distance between embassies and voters’ workplaces and residences may also be factor for the low turnout.

The 30-day voting for the May election will begin on April 14.

While election rules in voting precincts are not exactly duplicated in Philippine embassies and consulates abroad, the official said the voting in diplomatic missions remains a transparent process.

Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason said during the Jan. 30 signing of the Memorandum of Agreement with the DFA on the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAVS) that the cost of pilot testing of internet voting in Singapore covering 26,804 registered Filipino voters turned out cheaper.

Tuason explained that the Comelec’s budget for e-voting in Singapore is only P23.5 million or P877 per voter.

The government spent P91 million for overseas absentee voting during the May 2004 elections or P1,400 per voter, which included the purchase of machines.

He expressed optimism that the internet voting will be implemented for the May elections saying it is allowed under RA 8436 or the amendment to the election modernization law.

Tuason explained that the internet voting should not be linked to local poll modernization because the conduct of elections abroad is different.

The United States, Australia, Canada and Italy were also considered for internet voting but Singapore was chosen for pilot testing since the city-state has a high internet link in the world with 60-70 percent connection. - with Pia Lee-Brago