Tag: automated elections

Election law & election campaigns

Right to inspect & test the PCOS & flashcard on election day

Photo of Del derived from a group photo by Chona Sebastian, lit & cropped, published by Flow Yoga QC

May 10, 2010 is also the time to be outspoken and vocal: the law allows the political parties and the Citizens’ Arm to demand (well, you can be nice and charming at the same time, firm while making your demand)  that the counting machine (precinct count optical scan) be tested on the day of the election and right before the  official voting starts;  this is in addition to the testing that is being done on the re-configured compact flash drives today.

[For a background, as everyone knows by now (after the Smartmatic-Comelec snafu that’s threatening to hijack the elections), the program in the compact flashcard is configured to read shades and spaces: black shades and white spaces; not letters. But somebody changed the single-spaced layout of the second page of the ballot and made it double-spaced, maybe for aesthetic reasons, to fill up the page or “close the page”, to use newseditors’ and layout artists’ parlance. Names of candidates on the second page were laid out in double space instead of single space, so the machine read the spaces-in-between as zero vote for the second-named candidate, whose name on the other hand appeared on the third line (because it’s double-spaced). Smartmatic and Comelec reported today that they have successfully re-configured all 76,000 compact flashcards and these are now being transported nationwide, they’re skipping however the “Gloria-Garci territories” of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte for security reasons daw (i’ll leave that for another blog post)].

The next hurdle is to help prevent or to detect wholesale cheating through tampered compact flashcards.

Since the compact flashcard (memory card) also stores the data on the votes, it is like a virtual ballot box and election return, except that, its contents are invisible. Concerned parties are given the right to publicly inspect it by testing the device (the representative also better know what they’re looking for; by this time, seminars and workshops should have been conducted on this). This is akin to inspecting and making sure that the ballot box is empty.

Doomsdaysaying should be accompanied with measures on: what one could do to prevent doomsday, or mitigate its effect, or at least, with measures on how to document… how we’re getting killed, that is, if you are prevented from inspecting and testing the device on the day of the election and right before voting, you should raise hell – you do not know the contents of the memory card – we’re getting killed that way: You should document.

The next three days should be spent by the parties concerned (political parties and Citizens’ Arm) on making sure that their representatives at the precinct level know how to assert their rights.

At the very least, the representatives of the parties concerned at the precinct level should be provided already with a ready “spiel” so they won’t fumble when asking that the device be tested right before voting begins.

(and of course, their lawyers should be on stand-by)

Here’s what the law provides

Republic Act 9369 Automated Election Law as amended:

“Sec. 12. Section 10 of Republic Act No. 8436 is hereby amended to read as follows:

“ `Sec. 14. Examination and Testing of Equipment or Device of the AES and Opening of the Source Code for Review. – The Commission shall allow the political parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens’ arm or their representatives to examine and test.

“ `The equipment or device to be used in the voting and counting on the day of the electoral exercise, before voting starts. Test ballots and test forms shall be provided by the Commission.

” `Immediately after the examination and testing of the equipment or device, the parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens’ arms or their representatives, may submit a written comment to the election officer who shall immediately transmit it to the Commission for appropriate action.

” `The election officer shall keep minutes of the testing, a copy of which shall be submitted to the Commission together with the minutes of voting.

” `Once an AES technology is selected for implementation, the Commission shall promptly make the source code of that technology available and open to any interested political party or groups which may conduct their own review thereof.”

Remember: this is no time to be shy.


breaking news, Election law & election campaigns

Breaking news: Election counting machines cannot count at this time: All memory cards in Metro Mla recalled today by Comelec

TOTAL RECALL

Breaking news: Election counting machines cannot count at this time. All flash cards of all PCOS machines in Metro Manila are being recalled today by Comelec. (ABS-CBN News Channel) [Update: blog admin’s note: As of 6:55 pm today, Comelec said that they will recall and replace all 76,000 memory cards of all precincts nationwide (Saksi GMA Channel 7.)]

PCOS refers to the precinct count optical scan; this is the automated counting machine that records the vote from the paper ballots. Flash cards are the memory cards of the PCOS machine. The memory card stores all the data on the votes from the paper ballots. For these particular PCOS machines, the memory cards are the size of less than half of a slim cellphone, or smaller than the palm of your hand.

The memory cards of the PCOS machines therefore are like the ballot boxes or the election returns; except that the data stored in them, before (if any) or after, are invisible,  because there is no LCD monitor of it. (The display function was disabled by Comelec because it caused a few seconds of delay per vote, and Comelec opted for speed instead of the vote tally being visible to everyone; there were also misgivings about “trending” while the voting was going on, or being able to monitor who was leading, which might therefore influence those who haven’t voted; so — the function was disabled). The data are invisible until they are transmitted to Comelec and/ or printed out.

Six days before election day, the Comelec and the contractor, Smartmatic found out that the configuration of the memory cards are not compatible with the PCOS machines. The PCOS machines are not able to count the votes for certain candidates because it is not able to “read” certain letters.

what this means is….

It was found out that the counting machines could not count, at this time.

The parties concerned should monitor how the memory cards are replaced/ re-configured. The rest of us should….pray.

[i’m being calm. ANONG MASASABI MO?! ANIM NA ARAW BAGO MAG- ELEKSYON, AUTOMATED COUNTING MACHINES MO, HINDI MAKAPAGBILANG!! (what can you say —  Six days before elections, your automated counting machine cannot count!!)]


Election law & election campaigns, Original videos photos music-slides

The first completely paperless, fully automated elections in the Philippines

The first completely paperless,  fully automated elections in the Philippines  started in U.P. a couple  of years ago , and has been  successfully used in the University-wide student council elections for two years. No ballots, no election returns, no certificates of canvass, and only   a certified official voters’ list to ensure all those who vote are qualified and to prevent “flying voting” – an iron-clad safeguard. The counting is real-time.

This morning,  (Feb. 24), the Department of Journalism will use the same technology in a completely paperless, fully automated mock presidential elections from 8am to 7pm  at the lobby outside the CMC auditorium at 8am to 7pm. The mock polls will be based on the official student voters’ list of U.P. CMC.

The software of the mock presidential  polls was designed for the Department of Journalism  yesterday afternoon by Computer Engineering student  Rystrum  Gamonez, president of the University

of the Philippines Linux Users Group or UNPLUGGED a  university-wide student  organization  composed mainly of techies,  more popularly referred  to as “geeks”. He finished designing  it in one hour, and installed it in an  hour as he  based it on an original design earlier used for student council elections in U.P.

After the  mock presidential polls, the results will be signed and certified by three faculty members and two staffmembers. Winners and scores  will be proclaimed during  the CMC week in a media conference on March 2 at 10am at the CMC auditorium. After the proclamation of winners, and a brief discusson on voters’ preference, the Media Watch committe of  CMC will read a statement on “Demands on,  and expectations of the next President”. Then, a  CMC Student Council representative will read an “Open Letter to the Next President”  on the illegal arrest and detention of former CMC Student Councll Chair Jacquelyn Gonzales who was among those of the Morong 43.

The original design of the software was made  earlier by  UNPLUGGED members headed by Waldemar Bautista.  Elections in U.P. have  been completely paperless,  except for several sheets of  the voters’ list (or  an official  list of students eligible to vote). The official student voters’ list will also  be used in the mock polls to preserve the integrity of the exercise.

See you this morning! [this is your invite to observe today’s  mock polls (or  to participate in,  if you are a student)  and to join us on Tuesday  March 2 at the  media conference.]