Comelec eyes new voting technology for 2019 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is considering six options in picking the automated election system (AES) that will be used in the midterm polls in 2019, Chairman Andres Bautista said yesterday.

In a speech during yesterday’s AES Tech Fair, Bautista said the Comelec is open to six possible options, such as the refurbishment of some 81,896 precinct count optical scan machines used in the 2010 and 2013 polls and to exercise the agency’s option to purchase the vote counting machines utilized in the May 2016 elections.

Bautista added they are also considering a combination of the two options – the lease of new optical mark reader machines, use of other system and the combination of five options.

The poll chief expressed hope the multisector Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) would submit its recommendation on “the most appropriate, secure, applicable and cost effective technology to be applied in future elections.”

“The Comelec is open to all possible options. One thing that we have clearly learned from the past elections is that we need time to prepare for the polls and we have one year, nine months and 18 days to go before the May 2019 local and national elections,” he said.

Seven local and foreign companies showcased their systems during the technology fair conducted by the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), which chairs the CAC.

These are the precinct automated tallying system, transparent election system, Smartmatic International Corp., IP Converge Data Services Inc., Laxton Group, DBP Data Center, and Arronet Solutions Integrator Inc.

DICT Secretary and CAC chairman Rodolfo Salalima said the fair was meant to provide the council with a venue to choose what to use in the 2019 elections.

Salalima said the Philippines has a long history of electoral fraud allegations because “here, no one loses, all are winners.” But since the automation of the polls in 2010, the country’s electoral landscape had changed.

“Since the start of the automated elections, our country has made a great leap toward faster delivery of election results. But I cautioned that accuracy and the truth must not be sacrificed for supersonic speed,” he said.

Salalima said the CAC would choose and recommend to Comelec the best voting system for the 2019 elections.