Comelec denies using 'wrong' UV ink

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday denied that poll machine provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) failed to supply the correct ink for the ultraviolet (UV) security markings that are being printed on the ballots for the May polls. "There was no admission on the part of the Comelec," said Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who heads the poll body's steering committee on automation. Earlier, the Comelec said it will be using hand-held UV lamps to verify the authenticity of the ballot after the high-speed printing of the ballots caused the UV marks to misalign, making it hard for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine to read the security feature. But political analyst Ramon Casiple, a member of the Comelec Advisory Council, disclosed that the voting machines could not read the security features because Smartmatic-TIM failed to supply the correct ink for the UV marks. The UV marks are one of the security features that will prove the authenticity of the ballot. Banks use similar technology to detect counterfeit paper money. The Comelec said other security features of the ballot include the special ballot paper, a bar code, Comelec markings, and the unique precinct-based numbers on the ballot. Smartmatic-TIM Asia president Cesar Flores told reporters on Monday that they decided to turn off the automated detection of the UV marks of the PCOS machines due to lack of time to properly adjust the scanner to the security markings. "The schedule was becoming more and more tight," he said, adding that printing would have been delayed by two to three weeks if they had insisted on using the UV scanner of the PCOS units. He said the new system would allow voters to verify for themselves that their ballots are authentic and not pre-marked. "This is something we encourage," he said. He asserted that the Board of Election Inspectors will not find it difficult to use the UV lamps. "It really doesn't require additional time. It is built into the procedure," he said. Larrazabal said the Comelec is in the process of bidding out the order for 77,000 UV lamps for the 76,340 clustered precincts in the May polls, and has allotted P30 million for the purchase. As of Monday, he said an estimated 32 million ballots out of the 50 million to be used in the automated polls have been printed. On Sunday, senatorial aspirant Jose de Venecia III called on the joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Poll Automation to investigate whether the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM "conspired" so that ballots could not be verified as genuine. - Kimberly Jane Tan/YA, GMANews.TV