EDITORIAL - Preparing for HOPE

The petitioners are reportedly considering an appeal, but the 11-3 vote of the Supreme Court the other day, allowing the government’s purchase of voting machines, looks unlikely to be reversed. About 82,000 precinct count optical scan or PCOS machines used in the 2010 general elections are expected to be used again, this time for the midterm polls next year.

The Commission on Elections decided to buy the machines for P1.8 billion from Smartmatic, prompting several groups, one of which is led by former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr., to take the case to the Supreme Court. The groups argued that the purchase was done without bidding, that the period for the Comelec to exercise its option to buy the machines lapsed at the end of 2010, and that glitches were found in the PCOS machines the first time they were used. The government argued that the PCOS glitches had been fixed and the deal was aboveboard.

With less than a year before the midterm elections, those glitches better be fixed. Machines tend to deteriorate with use, and the Comelec must see to it that there won’t be more technical glitches in the nation’s second fully automated elections. The PCOS machines will have to be tested several times, with a final dress rehearsal of sorts shortly before the May 2013 elections.

With this issue out of the way, the Comelec can ramp up overall preparations to ensure HOPE, or honestly, orderly and peaceful elections next year. Much will depend on the performance of the PCOS machines, which are supposed to drastically reduce opportunities for poll fraud. Automation certainly sped up the release of election results in 2010, with then Comelec chief Jose Melo triumphantly announcing the winner in the presidential race just hours after the polling centers closed.

There are many other tasks that must be carried out for HOPE. Voters’ lists need constant purging. Precinct clustering needs to be reviewed to prevent a repeat of the long lines and hours of waiting to vote in 2010. Security agencies need to prepare to contain election-related violence, which is usually at its worst in local political races. HOPE is possible in 2013, but time is running out for preparations.