Possible pitfalls of automated elections

by: DEMS REY DEMECILLO

My editor granted me a leave from my reportorial duties to attend the threeday (January 29-31) Seminar- Workshop on “Covering Automated Elections and Uncovering Campaign Finance” conducted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in cooperation with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the United States Agency for International Development held at Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

Some twenty media practitioners from print, television, radio including two Cebubased bloggers joined the seminar-workshop designed to prepare us in our role as purveyors of information in the coming presidential elections. One of the speakers, Atty. Luie Tito F. Guia, Trustee and immediate past president, Lawyers’ League for Liberty gave a summary of what could possibly go wrong in the country’s first ever nationwide automated elections. These are:
• No extra ballot. No replacement. Some Filipinos are not computer literate who may spoil the ballots or hired goons may commit massive tampering of ballots so that counting machines will invalidate votes forcing teachers to revert to exhaustive manual counting
• Transportation of 82, 200 counting machines and clustered precincts with 600 to 1,000 voters may cause logistical problems resulting to chaos
• Transmittal of results can be susceptible to hacking especially by crooked IT experts some of whom have been hired by candidates
• Software placed on an external memory disk or compact flash drive may land in the wrong hands and will be target for damage, tampering and alteration
• The source code, basically the instructions used to specify the actions to be performed by the counting machines has not been made available for public scrutiny and control
• General voting instructions, continuity, contingency, auditing plans, machine delivery remain delayed and may create confusion
• Lack of security may cause destruction of rented counting machines in precincts dominated by lawless elements
• Delayed training on the seemingly complex automated elections system, low pay, long working hours from (7AM- 6PM) and poor security discourage public school teachers from serving in the Board of Election Inspectors
• Announcement of election results will still be delayed increasing the likelihood of cheating and violence if massive blackouts, tampering and snatching of ballots occur with no concrete contingency back up plan What must be done:
• Strict observance of schedules and timelines
• Government should purchase the source code for the COMELEC to control the system’s software
• Extensive voter education efforts
• Transparency in the process and ensure accountability of persons responsible
• Clear contingency back up plan
• Continued vigilance of civil society and the media