By YOUTH VOTE PHILIPPINES and VERA Files
THE country’s first national automated election system promises faster counting and canvassing of votes and less opportunities for massive cheating, but if the technical glitches and other problems observed at the recent mock polls are not addressed, voters could expect more serious ones come election day in May.
Participants in the Commission on Elections mock polls held simultaneously in nine polling centers Feb. 6 generally appreciated the ease of the new voting system.
“Mas madali ngayon kasi parang ako, wala akong alam sa mga senador pero syempre pag nakita mo na ang pangalan sa balota, maaalala mo na kung sino sya (It’s easier now. I’m not sure who’s running for senator but when I see their names on the ballot, I’d remember who they are),” said 21-year-old Elsie Roque Cruz, a mock voter at the Community Youth Center in Baguio City. It took her nine minutes and 34 seconds to cast her vote.
In past elections, voters had to write the names of the candidates for each electoral position. Under the new system, the names of all candidates will be printed on a 26-inch ballot designed for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. The voter will simply have to shade the oval beside their choice of candidate for each position.
“Napaspas tatta. Masapol lang nga igga mam dyay balota nga haan nga makita ibotos ta nag-atigdug (It’s faster now. But you have to hold the ballot such as no one can see your vote),” said Victoria Julian Delmendo, 67, the first mock voter at the Community Youth Center.
Easy to fill up, make mistakes
While the ballot makes it easier for voters to remember all the candidates for a certain position, it also allows room for more mistakes.
The PCOS machine rejected Petronilo Delmendo’s ballot twice because his felt pen accidentally touched an oval beside the name of a presidential candidate before having completely shaded the oval beside the name of his chosen candidate. On the advice of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), he fully shaded the marked oval. The ballot was accepted by the machine and therefore valid, but he is considered to have “over voted” for that position, hence his vote was not counted.
Smudged ballots were also rejected at the Pines City National High School, also in Baguio City, and Bulacao Community School in Cebu.
The BEIs said any mark on the ballot less than 50 percent of the oval (even if inside an oval) is considered an “anomalous” mark. The PCOS machines are programmed to reject any ballot with an anomalous mark.
Most of the invalidated ballots were due to the failure of the voters to fully shade the ovals, which apparently reflects the Comelec’s lack of information campaign on the new process.
The new voting system also proved to be harder for some voters, senior citizens in particular. A common complaint among the elderly is the small font size of the letters on the ballot, making it hard for them to read.
At the Gen. Ricardo Papa Memorial High School in Taguig City, the PCOS machine rejected the ballot of an 82-year-old voter who struggled to fill it up. The BEI allowed her daughter, who was also a mock voter, to assist her.
Comelec only allows assistance for illiterates, the blind, amputees, senior citizens and those with Parkinson’s disease and only from a relative, a trusted person or housemate, and the BEI in that order.
Security lapses
The test run of the automated voting system also had several kinks, particularly on security. Most noticeable was that ballot boxes were unlocked when the voting began. Some BEIs were also remiss in following voting procedures that a mock voter was able to vote twice at the Maharlika Elementary School in Taguig. The BEI forgot to apply indelible ink on the voter’s fingernail after she cast her first vote.
In many areas, the PCOS and ballot boxes were also placed near a wall or next to a window due to signal strength and electricity outlets. The Comelec layout puts the machine in the middle of the voting room.
At the Gen. Ricardo Papa Memorial High School, the improper layout of the precinct could compromise the secrecy of the ballot, said the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CENPEG).
The most critical security concern, though, was the inaccurate fit of the PCOS machine and the ballot box, making it possible to insert a ballot in the box without going through the machine.
Challenges to citizens’ groups
The mock polls have shown how poll watching and citizen engagement during election day will be changed.
CENPEG said reports on discrepancies on time of transmission could not be verified by the pollwatchers and other observers at the Taguig City Hall canvassing center because there was no LCD screen that would show the status of transmission.
It noted that all laptop and computer screens were turned away from the poll watchers and observers, who were only allowed to view the screens one at a time on an average of two to three minutes, to take pictures and ask questions from the canvassers.
“In effect, the setup and protocols in the canvassing center prevented them from closely monitoring the process,” a CENPEG report said. “This shows the complete lack of transparency in the municipal canvassing level, which rendered us observers and poll watchers dependent on the announcements of the COMELEC officials for information.”
It added that the use of laptops as tools for the consolidated canvassing could be “a very dangerous practice that can lead to possible tampering of results of the incoming PCOS transmission.” It suggested instead the use of “dumb” terminals (those without keyboards) for this purpose, the installation of projectors at the municipal or city levels to ensure transparency, and the posting of the results online.
For the recent mock polls, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free and Fair Elections (Namfrel) and other citizen groups came prepared with their own observation checklists. However, most of the checklists did not factor in many of the major issues during the mock polls, particularly those that concerned voter behavior, BEI preparedness and Comelec-Smartmatic supervision.
Namfrel’s observation checklist, based on the BEI general instructions issued by the Comelec, enumerated critical steps and requirements regarding the PCOS machine, voting, counting and transmission of results.
Other citizen watchdog groups, including CENPEG, Cebu-Citizens’ Involvement and Maturation in People’s Empowerment and Liberation (CCIMPEL) in Cebu and Bantay Eleksyon in Davao, had their own separate checklists. Even the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) Technical Evaluation Committee sent representatives with long checklists to conduct a technical observation on the process, including checking serial numbers and software versions.
A satisfied Comelec
At a press briefing after the successful transmission of results from all mock poll areas, Comelec Chair Jose Melo said the exercise was almost perfect, despite noting several transmission failures and problems.
The mock polls were conducted in Baguio City (Community Youth Center and Pines City National High School), Quezon City (New Era Elementary School), Taguig City (General Ricardo Papa Memorial High School and Maharlika Elementary School), Cebu City (Bulacao Community School and Mabini Elementary School) and Davao City (Alejandra Navarro Elementary School and Generoso Elementary School).
The test run used the standard precinct layout, which allowed only 10 voters to vote simultaneously. Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez earlier said that the number of voting stations may be increased in some precincts.
In the time-and-motion studies conducted by YouthVotePhilippines in September and October last year, it found that an average voter may take six to eight minutes to fill up the ballot. The study, which was also supported by Comelec, recommended that for a precinct with 1,000 voters, at least 24 of them should vote simultaneously to assure that everyone would be accommodated.
The study only measured the average time of shading the ovals in the ballot, excluding voter verification, feeding the ballot into the machine and inking.
Comelec has decreased the existing 320,415 voting precincts to 75,471 clustered precincts with a maximum of 1,000 voters. Each precinct has an average of 200 voters. For those with fewer voters, COMELEC allowed the clustering of up to seven precincts.
Under the new voting system, an average of 1,000 voters are expected to cast their votes within 11 hours (from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.), as opposed to only a maximum of 200 voters casting their ballots in nine hours under the old system.