AUTOMATED ELECTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
ELECTION 2010

As an Information Technology student, my opinion regarding this issue is that automated election shall be imposed for this coming election 2010. Automated election indeed can minimize the problems of the members of the COMELEC as well as the Filipinos all over the world. By using these automated and advanced equipments, voters won’t be able to have a hard time in manually writing their selected candidates and with just click, they are done voting. And when it comes to the volunteers and members of the COMELEC, they will not at least get tired in tallying the votes. When the tallying of votes are manually done, it will probably reach at about approximately two to three weeks of just counting the votes nationwide. In this way, the results are quicker. If this new way of voting will be done and will be imposed this coming election and the next elections to come, the cost of these equipments will be worth buying for and the result of the votes will be done automatically. And with in this way, we can at least minimize election fraud that can cause for the wrong candidates to be elected and be placed in the wrong position.

According to the news that I’ve read, equipments produced by Smartmatic will probably reach at about 11.3 billion pesos. Big amount isn’t it? But if we’ll look at the big picture and just think of the big change that this new technology might bring and contribute to our country these equipments are worth buying for. I believe that by using these equipments, it will widely contribute all the Filipino voters nationwide and even outside the country.

ADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATED ELECTION:

• can guarantee fair and accurate election
• results are virtually impossible to tamper because its levels of security cannot just be matched
• guarantees a flawless electoral process for the Filipinos
• speedy and fraud free election
• ensures credible and electoral process

As I was reading articles regarding this matter, I have read that there are possibilities that the election and the tallying of votes using these equipments can be cheated. Of course, we cannot deny the fact that there a lot of desperate candidates who are eager to win the election and we do not what they are up to. Maybe they just want to serve their fellowmen, or they want to be more powerful or even one way or another. We really don’t know. There are a lot of ways in cheating the election, one way is hacking the system that will be used in the election. This is not impossible, as technology arises there are a lot of possible ways that can be done. For them, money is in control of everything. If the greedy candidates will do their best in order for them to win, they can use their power and hire expert hackers and programmers just to cheat. One of the reasons why our country is still not in progress is because of the greedy politicians stole and continue stealing the money of the Filipinos.

If there are a lot of ways to cheat the election, there are also a lot of solutions and ways to avoid this problem. If each and every one of us will help in safekeeping the votes, we will be able to lessen this problem and at least in this way we will be able to help our country. Lending a helping hand to those organizations who are trying to help the safety of our votes is one way of being concern to our country. In fact it is only a matter of helping your country as well as your countrymen. And by choosing the right candidates that will responsibly take actions in making difference in the country is a big help. All these things might be simple but these things can make a big change. Our future is at stake and we can’t risk our future right? Then if we want change, and if we will fight for it, all these things are not that hard to achieve. And to be honest, no matter what medium or technology we are going to use, if we will going to help change and put the right candidates in the right position, we will be able to make that change and that change starts within us.

“This is a great leap forward for our country. This about making sure that every vote of every Filipino is counted, and counted properly. This about giving the future of the Philippines back to its own people,” Richard Gordon

These are the articles that I have read in the internet:

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MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) are now on the mindset of going back to manual counting if Smartmatic and TIM will not resolve their conflict. The COMELEC has given the two corporations until Friday to decide whether or not they could push through with the automation contract for the 2010 elections.
If the two companies cannot push through with the automation contract, COMELEC chairman Jose Melo admitted that next year’s elections might be done manually because the commission no longer has the time to convene a second bidding for a new supplier of machines.
Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the House electoral reform committee, told reporters that TIM president Antuñez wanted 500 million php “up front” from its foreign partner. “If you give me a half a billion pesos, all of these problems will be solved.” - This was what the president of Total Information Management Corp. had demanded in a tease manner, but Smartmatic took seriously.“Of course, they took this as a joke but lawyers do not laugh about such things. They took it as a deal breaker. The lawyers thought this was tantamount to extortion,” Locsin said.Locsin said that by making “impossible demands,” Antunez was laying the groundwork for its defense against a lawsuit to be filed by Smartmatic in Singapore. “P500 million is really big because Smartmatic’s bid is already the lowest. You are not supposed to do that, it’s illegal. You cannot just give P500 million profit to somebody. Why will you do that?” Locsin said.
Other option the Commission on Elections is looking will be the joint partnership between Smartmatic and COMELEC, but worst case will be a full manual counting for the May 2010 election as chairman Melo sighted the automation will be “very slim” as” happy days will be here again” for those who will plan to cheat for next year election.

http:\MIS\2010-philippine-automated-election-jeopardy\

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Philippines says plan for automated election on again

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will hold automated presidential elections next year after the partners of a joint venture that won a $150 million deal to supply counting machines patched up their differences on Friday, officials said.
"We're back to automation," Jose Melo, head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), told reporters after Filipino company Total Information Management signed a joint venture agreement with Barbados-based Smartmatic to supply 82,200 counting machines.
Lawmakers, political groups and analysts have previously cast doubts over the automated process. Many feared chaos due to potential machine breakdowns and delays in results transmission, which could lead to a failed election and political limbo. But analysts say even manual counting would expose the elections to the likelihood of fraud. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has faced four attempts at impeachment on charges she cheated in the last presidential election in 2004. Melo said the incorporation papers of the joint venture to supply vote counting machines will be filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday and the contract with Comelec will be signed on Friday, the final deadline to automate the elections in May 2010. If no automation contract is signed by July 10, Melo said the Philippines will likely scrap the deal and hold elections manually. The automation should provide results within two days of voting instead of the weeks it takes currently, the agency has said. On Monday, Melo said the plan to automate polls was likely to be scrapped because Smartmatic's local partner broke off from the deal due to differences, but gave the partners until Friday to resolve their dispute.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-40785720090703

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Automated election fraud

Comelec’s claims:

Comelec claims that the AES (automated election system) cannot be hacked and that the source code will be open for inspection. These are good for Comelec’s PR efforts, but they do not make automated elections safe from fraud. In fact, they are smoke screens that cover the real areas where fraud can take place. The Random House Encyclopedia defines hacking as unauthorized access to a computer, either for fun or for malicious or fraudulent purposes. Hackers generally use microcomputers and telephone lines to obtain access.
In computing, the term is used in a wider sense to mean using software for enjoyment or self-education, not necessarily involving unauthorized access.
How do we safeguard our vote?
In order to prevent automated election fraud, certain safeguards have to be instituted. These include:
1. The OMR machines should not have any network connection. The election results should be copied to USB memory sticks, which can subsequently be loaded to a separate PC that will transmit the results to the Comelec canvassing system at the municipality and to the dominant majority and minority parties, as well as to the citizens arms such as PPCRV and Namfrel.
2. The above parties should be provided with their own PCs to be able to produce their own COCs. If the Comelec COC does not match the COCs produced by other parties, a careful review should be done prior to transmission to the provincial level.
3. The verified municipal COC should then be transmitted to the multiple groups defined above. Again, the Comelec COC should be compared with the other COCs and the reason for discrepancies should be determined.
4. The verified Provincial COC should again be transmitted to multiple parties. The Comelec and Congressional Canvass should again be compared to the parallel canvasses to assure that fraud is minimized as much as possible.
5. Each of the concerned groups should make their results available on their websites for the public to access. If these proposed measures are followed, there will be true transparency and automated fraud will be minimized.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/columns/view/20090706-214009/Automated-election-fraud

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Smartmatic commends automation of elections in the Philippines

Manila, July 18, 2006.– In his recent visit to Manila, Philippines, Robert Cook, Smartmatic Vicepresident, revealed the importance of automating the electoral process, stating his company’s experience in other developing countries. In his talk with David Celdran, host of “Business Nightly” aired over ANC, a local television news network, Cook exposed that utmost respect is instantly earned by the winning candidate if the citizens trust the election system.

Mr. Cook said that their experience in various developing countries proves that an automated election process that is run by a sufficiently advanced technology can guarantee fair and accurate elections. With the right technology, results are also virtually impossible to tamper because its levels of security cannot just be matched. The superiority of Smartmatic’s automated election system encompasses an election technology that guarantees a flawless electoral process for the Filipinos.

http://automatedelec.Smartmatic/Smartmatic.commends.automation/

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