SPECIAL REPORT-AUTOMATED ELECTION Fifth of a Series- May 8, 2010
SPECIAL REPORT-AUTOMATED ELECTION
Fifth of a Series- May 8, 2010
By Ike Seneres
Two days away from the Election Day, the COMELEC says that it’s all systems go, perhaps inspired by the Supreme Court ruling in support of automated counting. It is so easy to say that it is a go, but how I wish that they would give us a running report about the number of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines already delivered, tested and sealed at the precinct level, complete with the compact flash (CF) cards.
Since the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the automation project specifically required a less than 1% failure rate in the system, it would appear that the implementation is already a failure as it is, because the COMELEC already admitted against their own interest that the failure rate could exceed 30%. Also against their own interest, they had admitted that their back-up plan is only good for up to 30% failure, in terms of replacement PCOS machines.
In the actual tests that have been done so far, most of the sites already registered a failure rate beyond 30%. A few weeks back, IT expert Mr. Obet Verzola had already predicted that the failure rate could go as high as 75%. Mr. Verzola is no ordinary expert, he was the first Filipino to build a local computer, and he could have been our very own Bill Gates if only he got the right support from the government.
In the interest of transparency, the COMELEC is actually duty bound to give us a running report of the progress of the testing and sealing stage, inclusive of the CF card configuration and installation, especially so that they have no more time to do the other tests even if they wanted to. As it is now, they are jumping into the actual election without testing the transmission, canvassing and consolidation stages, three components that are even more important than the testing and sealing stages.
Aside from refusing to snap out of their denial stage, COMELEC officials have not been upfront in telling us the real story behind the CF cards. At one time, they said that these are a “read only” card which is technically wrong because it is actually designed as a “re-writable” card. As a result, they actually contradicted themselves when they announced that they will just reconfigure the recalled cards instead of buying new ones. How could they write over these cards if these are really “read only”?
Similarly, the COMELEC officials have not been upfront in telling us the real story behind the transmission devices that will be attached to the PCOS machines. Even if the law specifically prohibits the use of transmission devices in the PCOS machines, the COMELEC officials nonetheless went ahead with using it, claiming that these are “one way” only therefore there is nothing to worry about. There is not such thing as a “one way” transmission device, because these devices are always designed to be “two way”, so that they could “handshake” first before they could transmit.
It is already a cause for worry that the PCOS machines could receive malicious instructions from pre-programmed CF cards and from invisible marks that are printed on the ballots. With the authorized use of the transmission devices, there is now an extra threat that the results in the PCOS machines could now also be manipulated from an external source. This is not a theory, because SMARTMATIC actually did this in Wao, Lanao Del Sur during the ARMM elections there.
Since the transmission, canvassing and consolidation stages have not been pre-tested, there is a very high possibility that these will fail in actual operation. With these stages in question, it seems that the only stage in the process that is most likely to work is the manual voting stage. That is right; it is actually a manual process because it uses paper with manual marks, even if the COMELEC prefers to call it automated.
Even if there will be a failure of automation, it does not necessarily mean that there will be a failure of election. To save the day, the COMELEC could still count the OMR ballots manually, even if it takes longer than an automated count. Even if the COMELEC no longer has the time to print and deliver official Certificate of Canvass (COC) and Election Returns (ER) forms in time for May 10, they could still print and deliver these even if these are delivered several days after, so that real official forms could be used instead of the plain Manila paper that Director James Jimenez suggested. No official forms, no official results. For the good of the nation, and for the preservation of our democracy, it is better at this point not to use the PCOS anymore, because its trustworthiness has already been tainted. More so the other three stages, since these too could not be trusted also. Mistrust breeds bad faith, and it could trigger chaos and disorder.
Check out the complete series at www.senseneres.blogspot.com
Fifth of a Series- May 8, 2010
By Ike Seneres
Two days away from the Election Day, the COMELEC says that it’s all systems go, perhaps inspired by the Supreme Court ruling in support of automated counting. It is so easy to say that it is a go, but how I wish that they would give us a running report about the number of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines already delivered, tested and sealed at the precinct level, complete with the compact flash (CF) cards.
Since the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the automation project specifically required a less than 1% failure rate in the system, it would appear that the implementation is already a failure as it is, because the COMELEC already admitted against their own interest that the failure rate could exceed 30%. Also against their own interest, they had admitted that their back-up plan is only good for up to 30% failure, in terms of replacement PCOS machines.
In the actual tests that have been done so far, most of the sites already registered a failure rate beyond 30%. A few weeks back, IT expert Mr. Obet Verzola had already predicted that the failure rate could go as high as 75%. Mr. Verzola is no ordinary expert, he was the first Filipino to build a local computer, and he could have been our very own Bill Gates if only he got the right support from the government.
In the interest of transparency, the COMELEC is actually duty bound to give us a running report of the progress of the testing and sealing stage, inclusive of the CF card configuration and installation, especially so that they have no more time to do the other tests even if they wanted to. As it is now, they are jumping into the actual election without testing the transmission, canvassing and consolidation stages, three components that are even more important than the testing and sealing stages.
Aside from refusing to snap out of their denial stage, COMELEC officials have not been upfront in telling us the real story behind the CF cards. At one time, they said that these are a “read only” card which is technically wrong because it is actually designed as a “re-writable” card. As a result, they actually contradicted themselves when they announced that they will just reconfigure the recalled cards instead of buying new ones. How could they write over these cards if these are really “read only”?
Similarly, the COMELEC officials have not been upfront in telling us the real story behind the transmission devices that will be attached to the PCOS machines. Even if the law specifically prohibits the use of transmission devices in the PCOS machines, the COMELEC officials nonetheless went ahead with using it, claiming that these are “one way” only therefore there is nothing to worry about. There is not such thing as a “one way” transmission device, because these devices are always designed to be “two way”, so that they could “handshake” first before they could transmit.
It is already a cause for worry that the PCOS machines could receive malicious instructions from pre-programmed CF cards and from invisible marks that are printed on the ballots. With the authorized use of the transmission devices, there is now an extra threat that the results in the PCOS machines could now also be manipulated from an external source. This is not a theory, because SMARTMATIC actually did this in Wao, Lanao Del Sur during the ARMM elections there.
Since the transmission, canvassing and consolidation stages have not been pre-tested, there is a very high possibility that these will fail in actual operation. With these stages in question, it seems that the only stage in the process that is most likely to work is the manual voting stage. That is right; it is actually a manual process because it uses paper with manual marks, even if the COMELEC prefers to call it automated.
Even if there will be a failure of automation, it does not necessarily mean that there will be a failure of election. To save the day, the COMELEC could still count the OMR ballots manually, even if it takes longer than an automated count. Even if the COMELEC no longer has the time to print and deliver official Certificate of Canvass (COC) and Election Returns (ER) forms in time for May 10, they could still print and deliver these even if these are delivered several days after, so that real official forms could be used instead of the plain Manila paper that Director James Jimenez suggested. No official forms, no official results. For the good of the nation, and for the preservation of our democracy, it is better at this point not to use the PCOS anymore, because its trustworthiness has already been tainted. More so the other three stages, since these too could not be trusted also. Mistrust breeds bad faith, and it could trigger chaos and disorder.
Check out the complete series at www.senseneres.blogspot.com
posted by Ike Señeres at 8:52 AM
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