EDITORIAL - Crunch time

The two leading contenders for the 2016 presidential race are already known. But with just nine months to go before election day, several million voters may be disenfranchised for lack of biometric records, the chairman of the Commission on Elections has not been confirmed by Congress, and the poll body still does not have a company that will refurbish 81,896 PCOS or precinct count optical scan machines.

Last week a special bids and awards committee of the Comelec declared the second bidding for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines a failure. The machines, first used in the 2010 general elections and used again in the 2013 midterm polls, were supplied by Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. But Smartmatic-TIM was one of two companies that backed out of the second bidding last week, with both citing the lack of time to complete the P3.1-billion contract. A third bidder was disqualified by the Comelec.

If the supplier itself thinks time has run out to refurbish the machines, what will happen to the elections? Filipinos will be picking all national and local officials from the president down to barangay councilors in May. If the Bangsamoro Basic Law is passed, it may be submitted to a national referendum coinciding with the 2016 general elections, during which voting will also be held for the new officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Already with a lot on its plate, the Comelec also wants to test voting in shopping malls – an idea that’s still being fine-tuned in consultation with the public.

Comelec officials have ruled out a hybrid voting system, which combines a manual vote with a computerized count. And a return to full manual voting, with the long, laborious count, is likely to meet strong public opposition. So the 2016 polls will be fully automated. But first you need voting machines.

The results of the second failed bidding can still be appealed, according to the Comelec. But the two bidders are right: the schedule is tight, and the nation is counting down to election day. The Comelec must work double-time to ensure that the 2016 vote will be orderly, as glitch-free as possible and with credible results.