Cebu Business I.T. Incubator

Poll Automation for Philippines 2010 Election

Posted on July 17, 2009 under Others

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After many weeks of thorough analysis and discussions for the 2010 Philippine Election among bidders, it was finally awarded. I guess the poll automation for 2010 is going to push through delivered by the winning bidder, the Smartmatic-TIM group. The contract for the automation poll project was signed last July 10, 2009 and is estimated  worth approx. to U.S. $150 million, a big expense for the government.

poll-automation-smartmatic
Image from Smartmatic Website

Smartmatic based its offer on its state-of-the-art electronic voting technology, which is completely compliant with the high standards set by the COMELEC to tackle the complex elections of 2010. “The [Smartmatic] machines were tested four times and in all those times, the accuracy rating was 100 percent” said Ferdinand Rafanan, COMELEC’s Special Bids and Awards Committee Chairman.

At first, I was hesitant to talk about this poll automation project for the coming Philippine 2010 Election because I do not have enough knowledge about what’s the whole deal. Now, after watching the news, reading papers and insights from people, I now can say that the project is ambitious but then, why not embrace the trend of technology just for the benefit of  “clean” election and faster results turn-out as they say.

Like many people into IT, I am also concerned on the technical side of this project,  with how the whole system works. Like how they manage the voters list per machine, how is the reporting done to the main server, if how will they manage when failure occurs during transmission of data, how sure that the machines cannot be tampered, are the data (like voters list, candidates, security access) pre-registered per machine per precinct or what? Or I just did not watch their demo or read the actual technical papers? I hope that COMELEC asked some IT experts to help them with the technical details and procedures of the system. I know I make sense and I hope that they have this questions already answered because having poll automation delivering fast votes turn-out, cheating could also be automated. Who knows?

Well I guess, Smartmatic website can provide a litle information about it. Let’s all check http://www.smartmatic.com/solutions/automated-election-system/.

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  • http://www.botomoto.com botomoto

    you can visit my blog for information about poll automation. i’m a supporter of the project. i hope you are as well.

  • http://www.botomoto.com botomoto

    you can visit my blog for information about poll automation. i’m a supporter of the project. i hope you are as well.

  • http://www.ramonguico.com Ramon Guico

    Automation may be one of the most significant move the government could take for faster election counting but it doesn’t really assure us that cheating and fraud in the 2010 elections will be eliminate.Still,we should guard our vote.Joining movement such as “Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo” “Ako Mismo” will save our vote.
    This coming election,hoped for a clean and honest election.

  • http://www.ramonguico.com Ramon Guico

    Automation may be one of the most significant move the government could take for faster election counting but it doesn’t really assure us that cheating and fraud in the 2010 elections will be eliminate.Still,we should guard our vote.Joining movement such as “Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo” “Ako Mismo” will save our vote.
    This coming election,hoped for a clean and honest election.

  • clarisse

    There will be many advantages in poll automation this coming May 2010 election. But there will be also many problems like before, such as having brownout. I want to know what will happen if the brownout occur. Isn’t it that it is a very big and serious problem? Because the voting machine will also be turned off due to brownout. How will be the voting machine function well? I think every precinct must have genarator to remain the machine functioning. How will the the machine count the votes?

  • clarisse

    There will be many advantages in poll automation this coming May 2010 election. But there will be also many problems like before, such as having brownout. I want to know what will happen if the brownout occur. Isn’t it that it is a very big and serious problem? Because the voting machine will also be turned off due to brownout. How will be the voting machine function well? I think every precinct must have genarator to remain the machine functioning. How will the the machine count the votes?

  • http://www.jeromelocson.com rachelle annesherina miranda

    i hope this could be the light that will enlighten all the torches.. may this serve as the lead.. yet, hope not to expect too much. Some people are hungry of POWER and FAME they may not be fed yet, but as soon as they are in the position they may at least feed everything around him..
    the COMELEC has done their jobs as for the election, now, let us do our jobs,,. think twice, think wise..

    to every Filipino who would vote.. it is now the job of the Filipinos to choose the right one.
    God Bless!Philippines..

  • http://www.jeromelocson.com rachelle annesherina miranda

    i hope this could be the light that will enlighten all the torches.. may this serve as the lead.. yet, hope not to expect too much. Some people are hungry of POWER and FAME they may not be fed yet, but as soon as they are in the position they may at least feed everything around him..
    the COMELEC has done their jobs as for the election, now, let us do our jobs,,. think twice, think wise..

    to every Filipino who would vote.. it is now the job of the Filipinos to choose the right one.
    God Bless!Philippines..

  • http://www.jeromelocson.com/blog/poll-automation-for-philippines-2010-election/comment-page-1/ raymond

    anu ba yang mga yan
    walang kwenta ang ganitong uri ng botohan

  • http://www.jeromelocson.com/blog/poll-automation-for-philippines-2010-election/comment-page-1/ raymond

    anu ba yang mga yan
    walang kwenta ang ganitong uri ng botohan

  • karla

    sana lang alam lahat bumoto gamit yan, hindi un maging disadvantage sa mga tlgang dapat manalo.

  • karla

    sana lang alam lahat bumoto gamit yan, hindi un maging disadvantage sa mga tlgang dapat manalo.

  • erickson caluag

    althought the first auotmated poll election seems to be a trial and error here in ou country. i am still hoping that it will be a big success. whatever way we vote as long as the spirit of democracy will still reign, it is more than enough for me.

  • erickson caluag

    althought the first auotmated poll election seems to be a trial and error here in ou country. i am still hoping that it will be a big success. whatever way we vote as long as the spirit of democracy will still reign, it is more than enough for me.

  • Cathynahil

    ano ba ang tamang botohan ??

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