No Second Chance For Mistakes in May Polls

Voters told: Sorry, no second chance for mistakes in May polls
CARMELA G. LAPEÑA, GMANews.TV

People who commit mistakes deserve a second chance. But not those who will err in casting their votes in the May elections.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is advising voters to make their lists and check them twice before going to the polling

precincts because there will be no spare ballots for erring voters.

"Ngayon pa lang ay sinasabi na natin, dapat magdala sila ng kodigo. Makakatulong po ng malaki sa kanila kung may kogido sila para

pagdating ng botohan… ifi-fill out na lang ang balota," explained the poll body’s spokesman James Jimenez, director of the

Comelec’s Education and Information Department, in a recent interview with media.

(We are advising the voters to prepare a list of their candidates. The list will help them easily fill out the ballots.)

Starting February 7, the National Printing Office will be printing about 50 million ballots equivalent only to the total number of

registered voters for the May polls. The printing is expected to be completed within 60 to 70 days.

Like the ‘touch-move’ in chess

Jimenez has likened the use of the ballot to the “touch-move" rule in chess: once a player touches the piece, he or she ought to move

it.

"Talagang mula't mula po ang sinasabi natin, touch-move po tayo dito. Isang balota lang sa bawa't isang botante," said Jimenez.

(We’ve been saying since the start that this is touch-move. There will only be one ballot per voter.)

The Comelec’s one ballot per voter policy is being questioned by some poll watchdogs. The groups claim that many voters are

expected to commit mistakes due to their low awareness on the new automated system that will be used in the May polls.

Comelec illustrates how the voting process will be completed in the May elections.
A survey conducted by Pulse Asia from Oct. 22 to 30, 2009 released to the public last December showed that about six of 10

Filipinos had little or no knowledge about the automated polls.

Error, fraud-free system

Election lawyer Luie Guia of the non-government Lawyers’ League for Liberty is among those who believe that some votes will go to

waste because majority of Filipinos are unfamiliar with the new ballots.

Guia suggests that the Comelec print extra ballots.

"Sa atin first time mangyayari ito. sasabihin na lang ba natin na malas na lang ‘yung mga magkakamali? Baka naman p’wedeng

mag-allow ng konting provision for replacing the ballots for legitimate errors or mistakes committed by voters," he told

GMANews.TV in a recent interview.

(We are doing this for the first time. Are we going to say that those who will commit mistakes in voting are just unfortunate? Maybe it

is possible to allow some provisions for replacing the ballots for legitimate errors or mistakes committed by voters.)

Other groups, meanwhile, are not only concerned about the problem on voter awareness. They claim that the new voting system itself

is a cause for alarm because until now, less than 100 days before the polls, the Comelec could still not ensure that the new system will

be both error and fraud-free.

“The justification of the computerized system is that it will eliminate cheating. They claim to have safeguards in place, like the ballots

supposedly having barcodes specific to each voter. So, saying that they will not print extra ballots does not make sense," lawyer

Romel Regalado Bagares of the Automated Election Watch told GMANews.TV in another recent interview.

Having independent IT experts review the software that will be used in the May polls could be a way to ensure that the system is

shielded from software bugs or vote manipulation attempts, according to Dante Marmol, head of the digital resources bureau of the

Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU).

“Dapat makita ng public ‘yung mismong source code (The public should see the source code). But what will be opened for review is

just the review of the source code by the licensed firm and not the source code itself," Marmol told GMANews.TV in a phone

interview on Monday.

The Comelec earlier said it would have a walk-through this month with groups interested to look into the source code review by

international software testing company SysTest Labs.

SysTest was selected by the Comelec to review and certify the source code of the automated election system that will be used in

May.

Consistent cheating?

The CPU earlier explained that unlike in manual polls wherein cheating is inconsistent and limited by geographical factors, tampering

of votes in the automated polls could be made consistent and widespread if there would be direct manipulation of data through

computer programming.

In the automated polls, insiders could overwrite the consolidated data and produce results favorable to certain candidates, according

to the CPU.

Marmol also expressed alarm over the glitches in ballot-reading and transmission of election results encountered by the Comelec

during the second field test of automated voting machines last Friday.

“Hindi binasa ng makina ang apat sa sampung balota. Malaki ang percentage ng error. Ibig sabihin malaki din ang problema," said

Marmol.

(The machine did not read four of the 10 ballots. The percentage of error was big. That means the problem is also big.)

He said the PCOS machines that would be used in the May polls should undergo a series of “rigorous tests" to ensure their reliability.

“Hindi ‘yung ilang test lang... Dapat tine-test mo siya ng pauliut-ulit, ng magdamag, ng 24 hours. Kumbaga sa road test ng sasakyan,

dapat malayuan," said Marmol.

(The machines should not just be tested for a few times. It should be repeatedly tested, overnight or for 24 hours. It should be like a

car undergoing a long road test.)

Identify the dead spots

The CPU likewise expressed concern on the failure of the three brands of SIM cards used by the Comelec to transmit data during

Friday’s field test.

Marmol said the Comelec should be able to present to the public a mapping of areas that have good cellphone signals as well as

places where signals go haywire or the so-called dead spots.

“The public should be informed about the dead spots and what the Comelec will do to address problems in the transmission of

election results from these places," he said.
--- so that's how it is!

no second chance for mistakes in May polls