10 steps how Comelec will deliver a credible May 9, 2016 election results

2016_0505_vote-receipt
A verification printout issued to an overseas absentee voter prior to the actual voting in the precinct.

This is how Comelec will deliver a credible election results.

The poll body will deliver a credible election by following the law that mandates a fully automated system as it was first used in the May 2010 and again during the May 2013 national and local elections. We are referring the system’s enabling law, Republic Act 9369.

The Commission on Elections will solely rely on the vote counting machines supplied by vendor Smartmatic TIM.

Briefly stated, the process begins with (1) the counting of votes in the precincts, (2) the consolidation of the precinct results, (3) the transmission of precinct results to the corresponding city/municipality canvassing board, (4) the canvassing of precinct results in the district, city, municipal levels, (5) the proclamation of winning candidates in the district, city, municipal levels,

Then, (6) the transmission of the district, city, municipal canvassing results to the provincial canvassing board, and of the (?) highly urbanized city results to the national canvassing board, (7) the canvassing of city, municipal results in the provincial level,(8) the proclamation of winning candidates in the provincial level, (9) the transmission of the (?) highly urbanized city and provincial results to the national canvassing board, (10) the canvassing of provincial and highly urbanized city results, including overseas results, in the national level.

Note that we placed (?) on step 6 and step 8, which both referred to the transmission of the highly urbanized city results to the national canvassing board.

While the forthcoming May 9 national and local elections is the third instance the Comelec will use the automated system, there are still doubting Thomases as to the accuracy of the prospective results.

To this, the Comelec and Smartmatic assured that the vote counting machines are also hack free. The VCMs will not be connected to the internet. The election contractor assured that the computers are in 256 bits, which make the machine encryption virtually impossible to hack.

The data gathered during the elections will be saved in an encrypted Secure Digital card with Board of Elections Inspector’s signatures to thwart tampering.

But accredited election watchdog’s Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting chairperson Henrietta de Villa noted that with the last minute preparations of the poll body “.. we cannot say that anybody is prepared 100 per cent for the elections.”

One shortcoming from the hectic preparation was the failure by the Comelec and the Technical Evaluation Committee from issuing a certification that the automated election system, including its hardware and software components, are operating securely and accurately ninety days before the actual election. It is one of the salient provision of the enabling law.

  • The 10 steps how Comelec will deliver a credible May 9, 2016 election results

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