Poll results can be sent even in areas without cellphone signals

May 2010 poll results can still be transmitted from automated voting machines despite the lack of network signals in some Philippine provinces. Although 30 percent of the country’s polling places do not have GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) signals, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would still be able to use its satellite network to send election results. Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal made this assurance after a site survey conducted by Smartmatic-TIM, the country’s automated poll machine supplier, said that three out of ten polling places in the country have no cellphone signals. Voting equipment – also known as PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines – can still be used in areas without GSM signals, he told reporters. The Comelec “can still transmit the results using satellite [transmission]," added Larrazabal, who also heads the Commission’s steering committee on poll automation. Satellite transmission or Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) can be used in areas which have no available cellular signals. Currently, the poll body has 5,000 pieces of BGAN equipment at hand, with more on the way, Larrazabal added. Provinces without radio network signals have not been identified, a spokesman for Smartmatic-TIM spokesman Gene Gregorio said. However, Gregorio recalled that these provinces include Surigao, Abra, Benguet, Samar, Leyte, Zamboanga, and Tawi-Tawi. But he was quick to note that only parts of these provinces have transmission troubles. In addition, these are rural and do not have a large voting population. “Most of the areas are not in the densely populated areas," he told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. Comelec to take two days to declare next president The poll body also said that it will only take a little over two days to declare the country's next president, vice president, and the set of 12 senators. At the municipal level, results can be declared in “a few hours," Larrazabal said. It would only take a little over 48 hours to declare the winners because they do not need to finish counting all the votes, just a certain percentage of the votes that will assure a candidate of victory, poll body spokesman James Jimenez told GMANews.TV. For her part, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chairman Henrietta De Villa said she was quite confident that the Comelec would be able to pull off the May 2010 elections with quick results. "I believe so," she told GMANews.TV in a separate phone interview. She added that people need to work together to make the country's very first automated polls successful. In 2004, it took the Comelec two weeks before it was able to declare the complete slate of new senators. Three years later, it took them two months to do the same. But it will be different for 2010. Election results are expected to be immediately transmitted, counted, and even viewed by the public, the poll body has said repeatedly. The Comelec also said that it will be posting election results almost at the same time since the data will be sent to a secure website provided by poll machine supplier Smartmatic-TIM. - RJAB Jr./GMANews.TV