Tempering automation blues
TALKING POINT
Maasin City — Barely four weeks into D-day for this nation’s first-ever crack at automated elections, some sectors cannot seem to be at peace at this novel way by which we put people in places of trust, in positions high and low, in every nook and corner of the Philippines.
The concern is understandable, of course, given our long experience in the political arena, teaching us that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so those to be given such political powers must be duty-bound to serve the common good.
And in the matter of electing or putting those responsible enough to be in positions of power, local or national, this democratic project must not be relied solely in the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
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Well, to be fair with the poll body, despite its checkered past, it has considered all the voices it can reasonably consider listening, but somehow it must act, and act decisively within specific limited timelines, even as the noises continue to linger, trying to distract its attention.
Over the past several months, it has tried to entertain everything under the sun about the new electoral process, and offered quick fixes where there was none, even as others keep throwing up a bunch of troubles along the way.
For example, this persistent worry raised as a never-fading issue against automation, which is automated cheating.
But how in heaven’s name can this be done when the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine at the precinct level will print an election return first before the very first ballot is shaded and cast, the activity in full view of various watchers, to show that all candidates are zero to begin with.
Then by six in the afternoon, at the close of voting, PCOS will print at least eight election returns first before transmitting these results — in effect this will offer a point of comparison from the printed copy at the precinct level to the transmitted copy at the canvasser’s level, or to any server receiving the transmitted output. (Both copies should show similar results; if not, then this is the time to cry foul.)
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Another noise that just don’t stop ever since the idea of automation was floated: failure of elections.
This fear got boosted this time by the HongKong absentee voting experience over the weekend, where at least two PCOS malfunctioned but were taken care of accordingly, according to published reports.
Sounds and fury accompanied the HK brief PCOS bugdown from perennial critics, as expected. But on the flipside, it was in fact a realization that PCOS machines are vulnerable to climatic changes, so a manual count based on the shaded official ballots will be the remedy of last resort if all else fails — yet this will not constitute failure of elections.
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Another positive insight into the HK affair was the need to transport and distribute the PCOS earlier than originally scheduled — along with the sensitive official ballots — to acclimatize them to local situations, especially so since remote barangays or precincts in far-flung areas across the archipelago can be reached only by ?habal-habal? ride, many river or lake crossings, and kilometer-long distance walk by foot on rocky cliffs in the extreme, with searing heat and sudden passing rain as added surprises.
PCOS machines and their matching ballots will certainly reach their assigned precincts on election day, that’s assured, and majority of them (the PCOS, which are in the tens of thousands) will function in the technology they are programmed to function.
On the whole, the Automated Election System (AES), like any other technology-driven system, has its share of the blues, but certainly we can temper these downsides to be not discouraging enough as to suggest the whole exercise will be a failure.
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Because at the very least, the actual voting per see, such as the shading of candidates’ already listed name on the official ballot, is still fully manual — only the counting and the transmission of results are automatic through fully efficient and functioning PCOSes, and they are, again, in the tens of thousand
s.
We have no luxury of time, unlike in absentee voting where they have thirty days to go, for on May 10, we can only vote from 7:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening, so just imagine the pressure on the technical back-ups — personnel and machines — to deliver.
Still, minus a troubled PCOS in some instances, or other unforeseen technical glitches, the will of the electorate can still be counted using the shaded official ballots as hard, tangible copies, tallied on the blackboard like before.
But the results should be encoded in a computer for fast internet transmission to all concerned, at the soonest time that a signal or access can be available.
Even in this practical manner, automation shall have served its purpose for being.
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LOCAL FRONT: Many teachers in Southern Leyte had passed the crucial test to serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) at the clustered precincts in the highly IT scenario of this year’s elections, according to a source who was knowledgeable on these things. Indeed, how the BEIs at the precinct level will perform their tasks is one crucial factor for a successful conduct of the automated elections. We trust that they will be on the side of solutions and not triggers for problems. Let us keep our fingers crossed.
ODDLY YOURS: Our Sun is a seemingly endless powerhouse of a nuclear reactor, located 150 million kilometers from Earth and measuring 1.4 million kilometers across. Its energy is produced at its very center, or core, where pressure is enormous, and the temperature reaches 15 million degrees Celsius. In such a condition, atoms of hydrogen gas join together to form another gas, helium, a process known as nuclear fusion. The light and heat from the sun makes life possible here on Earth. But sometimes the Sun may be in a bad mood, rocked by violent explosions called fares which can blast particles into space and cause magnetic storms on Earth, disrupting signals from radio, cellphones, satellite transmission, and any other high-tech technology, as some science-fiction movies show. (PIA-Southern Leyte)
