Group decries lack of ways to validate votes on election day

Saying that the public wants transparency in the voting system, a poll watchdog on Friday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to set up a mechanism to validate individually cast votes on Election Day. The Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections (Compact), a network of non-government organizations and social movements, said the automated voting process in May is probably the only electronic transaction that has no individual acknowledgment. "Persons who use ATM, credit cards even those who play the lotto get a receipt. Why can’t voters get something similar? Ano ito, meron sa Lotto pero wala sa boto (What do we have here? We get receipts on lotto bets but not a voucher of any sort on our vote?)," said Compact Co-Convener Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada Jr. Lozada said a verification mechanism is available to the Precinct Counting Optical Scan (PCOS), the counting machine that will be used in the May polls. But he said the verification screen which should validate how a voter cast his vote was "disabled." He said the poll body disabled the function supposedly to save time during the voting process and to prevent voter intimidation and selling. He said that the argument, while valid, is "not enough" to "deprive" people the right to validate their votes. "As such, Comelec should activate the verification mechanism of the PCOS machine and provide people with receipts," he said. To avoid vote selling and intimidation, he said, voters can destroy their receipts inside the precincts after the verification. "A simple allocation of garbage cans to put all destroyed receipts under strict supervision would suffice." Other methods to verify votes Compact co-convener Tomas "Butch" Africa said that there are other available verification mechanisms that may be used in automated elections. He said that the poll body can use cryptographic verification, which would allow voters to check their votes personally, but not to a third party. He also suggested direct recording-electronic (DRE) voting machines that would display verification on the screen to give the voter the chance to correct the vote cast. He added that a voice-operated tape recorder connected to a voting machine may also be used. Using this method, a voter wears headphones while voting. He said that each time the voter makes a selection or de-selection on the DRE machine, the system corresponds. The group said that the states of Idaho, South Dakota, and California in the United States had used some of these mechanisms. It also said that the "ticketing system" was used in Belgium in 2003. "The point of this exercise is not to vilify Comelec but to highlight the fact that different verification mechanisms are used by countries using automated election," said Africa, who is a former administrator of the National Statistics Office (NSO). But he clarified that Comelec doesn’t have to overhaul the system. "All they need to do is activate the verification mechanism of the voting machines. For the sake of democracy and transparency, our poll body must heed this call," he said. Unnecessary? But Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told GMANews.TV that he regrets that people say they "disabled" the verification screen of the PCOS machines with some malicious intent. He said that the screen and the printing of receipt are "unnecessary." "[These] could lead to voter confusion…," he said. Jimenez explained that showing a person's votes on the screen would only give the voters an opportunity to change their mind about the votes they cast. He noted that in our voting system, there is no "second chance voting" that would allow for such instances. The ratio of ballot to voter is one is to one. Jimenez likewise said that the issuance of a receipt is dangerous because it could violate the secrecy of the votes. He added that the verification processes only supposedly provide "personal comfort" and nothing more. "It doesn't increase the security, it doesn't do anything for the system," he said. Also, Jimenez said that it would be "unreasonable" to expect that kind of assurance in this system. "Did you have that assurance with the old ballot?" he said. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV