Comelec expects advisory council to decide on poll automation

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is expecting the Advisory Council on Poll Automation to decide soon whether or not the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) polls in August 2008 can be automated.

Comelec acting chairman Resurreccion Borra said the Council had already been studying if the planned automation of the electoral system could be implemented in the local polls in ARMM next year.

“The Council will decide. But the technology that will be used is not yet known,” Borra noted. Regional governor, vice governor and assemblymen are elected during ARMM polls.

The Council is composed of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Education and University of the Philippines’ College of Engineering.

Under Republic Act 9369 or “Amending the Election Modernization Act,” the Council is mandated to decide and recommend to Comelec which technology can be used for the elections.

The Comelec had wanted to automate the elections using the machines supplied by the Mega Pacific consortium. But the Supreme Court had cancelled the contract, citing that the counting machines did not meet the specifications set by the poll body.

In an earlier interview, Borra claimed the automating of the ARMM polls is part of the preparations that the Comelec needs to undertake if the 2010 presidential election is to be modernized.

Borra added that there are usually some one million to 1.2 million registered voters that participate in the ARMM polls.