Comelec satisfied with field testing of ballot transmission

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is satisfied with the results of yesterday’s field testing conducted in nine areas across the country to check the electronic transmission of ballots for the May 13 polls.

“It’s successful. This field testing is very important because it will give us an idea of what we are going to encounter when actual election comes. So far the results are good,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

The field testing was done in Taguig and Pateros, Benguet, Palawan, Cebu, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Sur, South Cotabato, Maguindanao and Antique.

There were two sets of testing – one on the transmission of data from the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the polling precinct to the municipal and then to the central server, and another from the PCOS directly to the central server.

As of press time, Jimenez said that only eight of the 36 transmissions from the PCOS to the central server have not fully transmitted, while only four of the 18 testing from the PCOS to municipal and to central has been completed.

The Comelec is testing the electronic transmission of ballots to see which aspect of the process needs to be enhanced or changed.

Jimenez said the poll body will come up with “contingency protocols” in case the transmission of election results from the polling precincts to the canvassing center or central server fails on May 13.

He said another option is to use other sim cards to transmit the data, and that the Comelec would be tapping all telecommunications companies to help in the elections.

The Comelec spokesman said that based on the results of the field testing, there was “very good indication that our downstream or from the PCOS to the municipal is in good shape.”

Meanwhile, poll watchdog Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) assailed the Comelec for preventing the civil society groups and the media from witnessing the field testing.

“Why the secrecy and what is the Comelec concerned about or afraid of, that it has specifically banned the public and the media from observing a very critical process of testing the reliability of the PCOS machines in transmitting results?” said AES Watch co-convenor Nelson Celis.

Celis said that the Comelec should have opened the testing to the public, given the problems encountered in the 2010 polls like the mis-configuration of compact flash cards used in PCOS, “gross mismatch and poor transmission.”