COMELEC SAYS Operation quick count is history; May 10 poll results out in 2 days

by Leila Salaverria (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100304-256559/Operation-quick-count-is-history-May-10-poll-results-out-in-2-days

MANILA, Philippines—The slow count that prompted operation quick counts in the past may now be consigned to history.

The country’s first nationwide automated elections on May 10 are expected to produce results in two days, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said media entities and other parties could still conduct their own count and call the results of the races.media

But Jimenez told reporters Wednesday that the wait for the official results to be posted on the Comelec website would not take long.

“The quick count would not be applicable because what could be faster than the official count now? The official count now would basically be the system used for the quick count in the past. The reason there was a quick count then was because there was a slow count, the one from Comelec. Now, there is no more slow count,” he said.
Jimenez also said that since the results of the polling would be posted online, there was no need to require media outfits to request permission to conduct their own quick count.

Asked whether media entities could still resort to trending or extrapolation, he said that this was not expected to be prevalent now because the results from all precincts were expected to be transmitted at roughly the same time.

But he also said that if media entities would want to conduct their own count of the votes, they should clearly state where the votes that they had tallied had come from.

Under automated elections, the votes would be recorded and tallied by counting machines in each polling precinct, and the results would be electronically sent to the canvassing boards.

There would be no need to manually tally the votes, eliminating the long wait for the results.