By MIKHA FLORES
THE padlocks used to protect ballot boxes in past elections will now be replaced with plastic security seals. The Commission on Elections is also doing away with thumb prints to save on queuing time and to avoid ballot smudges.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Friday the padlocks are “too expensive, too heavy and too big” but cheating operators still manage to tamper the locks.
“Nung nagpapractice ako, pinipitik lang namin yan bumubukas e. Nahuhulog basta Comelec padlock . (When I was still practicing, we just snap them. They easily open if they are Comelec padlocks),” Brillantes, a prominent election lawyer before becoming Comelec chairman, said.
The plastic security seal will be serially numbered. It may be easier to open but Comelec will be able to monitor if the ballot boxes have been tampered.
“Padlocks do not have serial numbers. Pag nabuksan mo then sinara mo ulit, parang hindi nagalaw (It’s as if it was left untouched),” he said.
The plastic replacement will seal the four sides of the ballot boxes and the opening lid where the Precinct Count Optical Scanners (PCOS) Machines are mounted. Comelec will be procuring around 450,000 plastic seals for the ballot boxes for 82,200 ballot boxes. An additional 10 percent will serve as backup. Comelec will spend around P14 million for the project.
Comelec spent P32.4 million in 2010 to buy padlocks, P18 million more than the projected cost for the plastic seals.
Brillantes admitted it would be easier for cheating operators to illegally open the ballot boxes with the use of plastic seals. However, he said a tampered ballot box won’t affect the results since elections are already automated.
“Hindi mo dapat masyadong pinoprotektahan ang balota because of the picture image (Ballot boxes need not much protection because of the picture image.),” Brillantes said, referring to the digital images stored in PCOS machines.
The plastic security seal has an adjustable belt and is made of yellow polyamide plastic.
In lieu of thumb marks, Brillantes said Comelec will resort to signatures during the technical examination of the votes.
Indelible inks will also be applied while the voter is on the way out of the polling precinct.
In 2010, voters cast their ballots in the PCOS then returns to the chair of the Board of Election Inspectors for the application of indelible ink.
“We will be able to remove about 20 percent of the (waiting) time,” Brillantes said.
Comelec is saving P12.4 million with the move.