Poll automated machines not fool-proof–Rafanan

The head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) bids committee has called for vigilance in the 2010 polls, saying “nothing is fool proof” as he oversaw the transmission testing yesterday of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

“Nothing is fool proof and we are not looking for a fool-proof machine. We could still use the people [to be vigilant in the electoral process],” Ferdinand Rafanan, chair of the Special Bids and Awards Committee and head of the Comelec’s Law department, said.

The consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management began their machine testing on Wednesday in front of the bids committee, technical working group, official observers and the media for the procurement of the election machines.

The test requires the machines to have a 99.995-percent accuracy rating. However, passing the post-qualification process does not mean that Smartmatic will be the winning bidder, although its bid of P7.2 billion, which is significantly lower than the 11.2-billion estimate for the poll automation project, makes it the frontrunner.

According to Rafanan, Smart­matic’s machines will still be subjected to five additional assessments—lab tests, acceptance test, mock elections, transmission test and the sealing of the machines.

As of press time, the company had passed several items in the 26 criteria set by the bids committee. “The machines can be manually fed, they are fully integrated single device, they require authorization and password, they can display results electronically and the names [of the candidates] are pre-printed in ballots,” Rafanan said.

However, the machines are yet to pass the accuracy and transmission testing, which are the most crucial parts of the post-qualification process.

“We haven’t finished testing. To arrive at the accuracy, we need 700 ballots. But so far, [Smartmatic] has yet to fail in any of the criteria” Rafanan said, adding that an error out of 20,000 ballot markings would result in the disqualification of the machines.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the winning bidder “must be really up to the standards” set by the poll body.

In case Smartmatic fails the machine testing, Melo said Comelec might call for a second bidding, or recommend central counting for the 2010 elections.

“We may call a second bidding or proceed to central count instead of precinct count,” Melo said, adding that Comelec has ruled out a negotiated bid.

Melo said Comelec may resort to partial automation of the 2010 polls only if the bidding process fails, but assured the poll body is working towards full automation.

He said that as soon as the bids committee recommends a winning bidder, Comelec will immediately look into it to resolve the case as soon as possible.

“We will rule on it as soon as possible. One week is even too long for us [to rule],” he said, adding that one of the factors that the poll body en banc would look at are the personalities behind the winning bidder. — Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Manila Times