More Pinoys realize they lack info on automation—survey

(Update 2 - 11:40 PM) More Filipinos are beginning to realize that they don’t know enough about automated elections, pollster Pulse Asia revealed on Wednesday, nearly four months before the May 10 elections. Seven out of 10 Filipinos (71 percent) said they have little to no knowledge at all about how poll automation works, an increase of 10 percentage points from last October’s 61 percent, the pollster said. (See: 6 out of 10 Pinoys remain clueless about automation – Pulse Asia) Pulse Asia cited results of a survey held from January 22 to 26 this year involving 1,800 registered voters. The number of Filipinos who remain clueless about automation is still the largest in socioeconomic class E (very poor), where three out of 10 respondents said they have no knowledge at all regarding the automated polls. Only two out of 10 respondents said they have sufficient amount of knowledge about automation, while an even smaller number – eight percent of those surveyed – said they have a great deal of knowledge of what will take place during the May polls. The latest survey’s results only show that since Filipinos are becoming more aware of automated elections, they are beginning to realize that they do not know enough about it, Pulse Asia’s Chief Research Fellow Ana Maria Tabunda explained. “The results of the survey are very subjective. This may be a result of more news coverage on mock elections and demonstrations. People begin to realize that automation is more complicated than they thought it would be," she told GMANews.TV. “The more they know about a thing, the more you realize that you don’t know much about it – how the votes will be transmitted or counted, for example," she added.
Comelec says, 'Trust the machine' But Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey are not really alarming, since a lot of Filipinos already know how they will vote in the coming May polls. “The perception is that it’s automated voting, automated counting. Maybe they know how to vote, they know how to fill the ballot, but they don’t know how the data is transmitted. That may fall into that," he said in GMA News’ early evening newscast, 24 Oras. For his part, Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said that it should be expected that voters would not know how to operate the poll machines because they do not need to. "This is foolish, trust the machine," he told reporters in an interview. Moreover, he said that pollsters should not try not to "discourage" voters about automation. "Nakaka-discourage sa voters natin. Ano’ng purpose nitong mga taong ito, na sinisiraan pa up to now? (It’s discouraging to our voters. What’s the purpose of these people in undermining [the automated elections] up to now?). Why not give it a chance?" he said. Ferrer added, “It is the first time that we will automate nationally. Please help us succeed." Majority think Comelec is prepared The latest survey also indicated that about one of every two respondents (52 percent) said that they think Comelec is prepared to handle the automated elections this coming May. The same survey showed Filipinos, regardless of geographic location and socioeconomic status, agree that the Comelec is prepared to conduct automated polls in May. Only 19 percent of the respondents think that the poll body is not prepared at all to handle the elections, while 30 percent of those surveyed are still undecided on the Comelec’s readiness for the upcoming polls. Almost half of the survey respondents (48 percent) also agreed that automation would lead to credible elections, while only 14 percent expressed doubts on the credibility of the automated polls. Although optimism about the 2010 elections is prevalent among Filipinos, a small majority of those surveyed, or 54 percent, expects trouble in the country if the May automated polls do not push through. The same Pulse Asia survey also showed that almost six of 10 Filipinos, or 58 percent of the respondents, is inclined to support but not join protests and public actions that might arise in case the May 2010 polls will not proceed as scheduled. The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of a sample chosen through probability sampling. It has a margin of error of plus or minus two percent, according to Pulse Asia. More field test, mock polls As this developed, a multisectoral alliance launched Thursday its campaign calling for clean and fraud-free elections, as it urged the poll body to conduct more field tests and mock polls. “That’s the big issue we’re trying to raise to the Comelec, that they have to continue mock polls in more precincts and more provinces involving more people," said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes, also a convenor of the Kontra Daya 2010 campaign. The Kontra Daya group said lack of information among voters on the automated elections may result in massive disenfranchisement and a failure of the elections, which may be used by the current administration to stay in power. Reyes added that the public should prepare themselves for civil disobedience if elections fail and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo retains her position. Liberal Party campaign manager Florencio Abad likewise scored the Comelec for allegedly failing to do its job in light of the Pulse Asia survey results. “Ibig sabihin niyan, hindi ginagawa ng Comelec ang dapat niyang gawin para mamulat ang mga mamamayan tungkol sa bagong proseso (That means the Comelec is not doing its responsibility to enlighten voters on the new process)," he said. Abad also urged the Comelec to admit whether or not it can sufficiently inform voters on the automated system in the remaining 82 days before the elections, so that groups can assist in the information drive. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier said returning to the manual counting of votes would be easy in case in case the automated system fails. (See: If automation fails, we go manual again – Comelec) The Comelec released just before the end of 2009 general instructions for the country’s first automated elections in May. (See: Guidelines for 2010 automated polls now out) - with Andreo C. Calonzo, Kimberly Jane T. Tan, Jerrie M. Abella/RJAB Jr./JV, GMANews.TV