Comelec has five days to justify stand on ballot receipts

The Supreme Court ( SC) ordered yesterday the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to answer the petition of senatorial candidate Richard J. Gordon who sought the activation of the Voter Verification Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) feature of the vote counting machines to allow the printing of a receipt once a voter casts his vote in the May elections.

In a resolution issued after its full court session, the Comelec was required to file its answer to the petition within a non-extendible period of five days from receipt of the resolution.

The SC directed Clerk of Court Felipa Anama to serve the notice of the resolution to the Comelec yesterday.

In his petition, Gordon, a former senator and principal author of the Automated Election Law under Republic Act No. 9369, told the SC that the VVPAT “is a critical and indispensable security feature of the automated voting machine.”

But, he said, “the inclusion of this mandatory requirement under the automated election laws was previously and flagrantly violated by respondent Comelec during the 2010 and 2013 elections.”

Gordon said he was forced to elevate the VVPAT issue before the SC after the Comelec had unanimously decided against the use of the VVPAT claiming it could be a tool for vote-buying and would extend the voting period by seven hours.

“The Comelec has been a ‘recidivist’ in violating RA 9369. The last two automated elections in the country have not been credible because of its failure to implement the safeguards such as presenting the source code for review, the use of digital signatures was disabled and the random manual audit was announced. Because of this continued failure, the integrity of the elections has not been restored as the automated elections law intended. This has got to stop,” he said.

He pointed out that Congress specifically included the safeguards to protect the sanctity of the ballots.

“Several safeguards were put in place to ensure the sanctity of the ballot. Among these safeguards was the VVPAT. A voter verified paper audit trail consists of physical paper records of voter ballots as voters have cast them on an electronic voting system. The voter-verified part refers to the fact that the voter is given the opportunity to verify that the choices indicated on the paper record correspond to the choices that the voter has made in casting the ballot...,” he said.

Final arbiter The Comelec en banc earlier decided against activating the ballot receipt feature of the vote counting machines (VCMs) as this would prolong voting hours and because of the high possibility that it could be used to buy votes.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said it would take 13 seconds to print a receipt, meaning each machine would have to run an estimated additional seven hours for the receipt.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting ( PPCR V), the church-backed poll watchdog backed the Comelec over the non-activation of the VVPAT.

Yesterday, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr chimed in saying they agree with Comelec that the issuance of ballot receipts on election day would be time consuming.

“We note that the Comelec had previously explained that the printing of such receipts present more disadvantages than advantages, in terms of possible vote-buying and actual lengthening of voting hours,” Coloma said.

“As an independent constitutional body, the Comelec is tasked with ensuring the integrity and credibility of elections. Now, it is up to the Supreme Court to act as final arbiter in disputes of this nature,” he added.

Coloma said Malacañang is one with the poll body in ensuring clean and credible elections following a recent Pulse Asia survey showing 39 percent of the Filipinos expect cheating in the upcoming presidential polls while 48 percent expect a clean and credible election.

“We need to address concerns and fears on allegations that there may be cheating in the coming elections,” Coloma said.

There is a need for more efforts in terms of educating the public on the automated election system to remove all concerns on the integrity of the voting system, noting that the automated election system has been proven effective during the 2010 polls, Coloma added..