Hybrid voting in 2025 midterm elections sought

MANILA, Philippines — As controversies hound the Commission on Elections, teachers’ group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is pushing for hybrid system of election in 2025, combining manual counting of votes at the precinct level with automated transmission of results.

“ACT asserts that a hybrid election system is a practical and desirable alternative to the current automated election system, which has long suffered from major transparency and accountability issues,” the group said in a press statement on Thursday.

The ACT said a hybrid system of elections “would provide citizens with proof that their votes were counted and [would] enable cross-checking of canvassing results at municipal, city, and national levels.”

Furthermore, it would also “reduce election expenses by eliminating the need to rent around 100,000 machines, along with their expensive paraphernalia,” the group said. The group also proposed to limit to 200 to 250 the assigned voters at each precinct.

The ACT issued the statement following the US federal grand jury’s indictment of Bautista and three other Smartmatic executives, and the  bribery allegations supposedly involving Comelec Chairman George Garcia and Miru Systems, a South Korean company contracted to supply automated counting machines (ACMs) and other paraphernalia for the 2025 elections..

The ACT said the findings of the US Justice Department only affirmed the “dubious automation process” in the Philippines “that leaves the electorate with little to no mechanism to verify if votes are counted correctly.”

But while Garcia denied the allegations, the ACT noted Miru Systems’ questionable track record.

“These [bribery] allegations raise further suspicions about Miru’s already questionable track record overseas, including controversies of repackaging prototype ballot machines pitched for Argentina’s 2016 national elections and sold to Democratic Republic of Congo for its first automated polls in December 2018, which were eventually flagged for compromised ballot secrecy, outdated software, and security vulnerabilities,” the ACT said.

“In Iraq, Miru’s machines allegedly yielded inconclusive results in the May 2018 parliamentary election, resulting in manual recount in some areas,” the ACT added.

Thus, the ACT said, the Miru-Comelec deal must still be immediately investigated.

“ACT argues that as long as the political system remains corrupt, technology in elections will merely serve as a tool for the dishonest to entrench their self-serving interests, squandering the people’s hard-earned money,” the group said.

The ACT also reiterated its call for an increase in payment or honoraria for teachers who are serving as poll workers during elections. The ACT said the honoraria must also be exempted from tax.

The group called for “additional compensation for extended poll work hours, and measures for safety, protection, and good working conditions for poll workers during elections.” — Elizabeth Marcelo, Mayen Jaymalin