Get ready for the May 10 polls

from Philippine Daily Inquirer

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/talkofthetown/view/20100206-251652/Get-ready-for-the-May-10-polls

MANILA, Philippines—The country will hold its first automated general elections on May 10, a political exercise that is causing anxiety among voters and civil society. The anxiety is understandable. Like in many things that people do for the first time, they have lots of questions about poll automation.

Can the Commission on Elections (Comelec) deliver the correct ballots to each of the 75,471 clustered precincts? The poll body is printing 1,631 sets of unique ballots.

Can voters use the voting machine in case of a power outage? Can a precinct get a backup machine should the machine assigned to it conk out?

Can the counting machine transmit data despite a weak cell-phone signal or absence of signal in the area? Can signal jammers stop or delay the transmission of results?

Will technical support teams be available in the polling areas to address problems that may be encountered with the counting machines?

If the Comelec pulls it off, results are expected within two hours at the local level and 36 hours at the national level. The transmission, consolidation of results and proclamation of winning candidates will be completed in just six days, according to the poll body.
Automation

How does a precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine work?

The PCOS is a ballot- based voting and counting machine that will be installed in each clustered precinct.

On Election Day, the precinct’s Board of Election Inspectors (BEI)—composed of three teachers—turns it on using a security key. Security pins are also needed to configure the machine and show that there is no entry or vote in the machine’s memory.

The machine scans the specially marked ballot fed into it by the voter. At the close of the polls, the machine counts the votes and prints the election returns.

A cable is then plugged into the machine to enable the electronic transmission of election reports to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central server and the board of canvassers.

The machine is equipped with a backup battery so the equipment will continue operating in the event of a power outage.

Project cost

The automation contract between the Comelec and Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. cost P7.2 billion. It was signed on July 10, 2009, after a lengthy bidding process.

The winning bidder is a joint venture between Smartmatic and TIM. The consortium, which is on a 60-40 basis in favor of TIM, was formalized by the Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2009.

Smartmatic is a Dutch-based multinational company, which owns subsidiaries in the United States, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador and Barbados.

Since August 2004, Smartmatic has organized and performed multiple national and regional elections in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States.

TIM is a Philippine-based information technology-solutions company founded in 1985. It has implemented projects for clients like the Social Security System, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Government Service Insurance System.

How to use the ballot

At the polling center, the voter looks for his or her name on the voters’ list to determine his or her precinct and sequence number.

The voter should then approach the BEI, which upon verification of his or her identity will give the voter a ballot, secrecy folder and marking pen.

The voter fills out the ballot by fully shading the oval beside the names of the candidates and the party-list group of his or her choice.

The voter inserts the ballot in the entry slot of the PCOS machine, and waits until the ballot is dropped into the ballot box.

The voter returns the ballot-secrecy folder and marking pen to the BEI chair.

The chair shall apply indelible ink on the right forefinger nail of the voter.

The voter shall affix his or her thumbmark to the corresponding space on the voters’ list before leaving the polling place.

Tallying votes

Election returns at the precinct level will be transmitted electronically to the central server of the Comelec and to the board of canvassers at the municipal, city, provincial and national levels.

Results are expected within 2 hours at the local level and 36 hours at the national level. Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research

Powers of the Comelec

THE CONDUCT of polls is supervised by the Commission on Elections, an
independent body created in 1940 by an amendment to the 1935 Constitution. The current Constitution has given the Comelec jurisdiction over electoral contests and the power to deputize, with the President’s concurrence, law enforcement agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to ensure peaceful and honest elections.

Absentee voting, dual citizens

FILIPINO citizens abroad can vote for candidates for president, vice president, senator and party-list representative by virtue of Republic Act No. 9189 or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003.

The absentee-voting option is also available for members of the armed forces, police and government service, who have been assigned temporarily to places where they are not registered voters to perform election duties. However, they are allowed to vote only for candidates for president, vice president, senator and party-list representative.

Filipinos with dual citizenship may elect officials for national and local posts.

Those who return to the country in time for the elections may vote as long as they are registered voters.

Spending limits

THE GOVERNMENT has imposed certain limitations on candidates to ensure equal campaign opportunities. The spending limit for someone running in the elections is P3 for each voter registered in the constituency where he or she filed a certificate of candidacy. Political parties and independent candidates can spend P5 for every such voter. In the case of presidential elections, those running for president or vice president can spend P10 per voter.

VOTERS, PCOS, BALLOTS

50,723,734 Registered voters (as of Jan. 15)

45,041,777 Registered voters in the 2007 elections

75,471 Precint count optical scan (PCOS) machines for clustered precincts

6,729 Backup PCOS Units

P7.2B Cost of automation

1,631 Sets of unique Ballots

8.5 x 25 Ballot size (in inches)

POSITIONS AT STAKE

1 President

1 Vice president

12 Senators

230 District Representatives

57 Party-list representatives

80 Governors

80 Vice governors

766 Members, Sangguniang Panlalawigan

137 City mayors

137 City vice mayors

1,524 Members, Sangguniang Panglungsod

1,497 Municipal mayors

1,497 Municipal vice mayors

11,980 Members, Sangguniang Bayan