Comelec fears not all areas are ready for automated polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) expressed fears Thursday that it might end up conducting a manual election in some areas next year if suppliers Smartmatic Corp. and Total Information Management (TIM) fail to fix the bugs in its transmission system. Comelec Chairman Jose Melo mentioned such possibility after acting director Jeannie Flororito of the poll body’s Information Technology Department said that at least 25 percent of areas nationwide don’t have transmission systems. “Malamang na mag-manual tayo kung ‘yang 25 percent na ‘yan ay hindi mahanapan ng nararapat na technology (We might end up going manual if we don’t find the needed technology for that 25 percent," said Melo. In the planned automated elections, transmission is needed for the electronic relay of results from the precinct level and up. With it, ballot counting in the precinct is pegged to be done within an hour, while results can be made available within 36. Flororito said that so far, 75 percent of areas in the country already have the necessary mode of transmission. These areas have in place more than 82,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. The Smartmatic and TIM consortium, however, was quick to add that it has yet to determine if there really are areas that have no such technology. “We are still in the process of determining that," said their spokesman Cesar Flores. Comelec ICT consultant Renato Garcia said they have already made arrangements with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and some telecommunications providers to be able to determine where Smartmatic-TIM should put the necessary adjustments. He said the survey will start in the first week of October and will end in the middle of November, giving the Comelec ample time to evaluate the chances of full automation in 2010. By December 15, the Comelec hopes to be able to determine whether there really will be full automation or not, said executive director Jose Tolentino. The poll body said it is expecting the first batch of 20,000 PCOS in October. The remaining 60,000, on the other hand, will be delivered in November and December. - GMANews.TV