Biometrics can purge roster of 700,000-4M double registrants

Responding to reports claiming that the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) computerized voters list (CVL) could have between 700,000 to four million illegal double or multiple registrants, officials of the Smartmatic-TIM joint venture are proposing changes—additional technology—in the automated election system (AES). They are introducing the idea of biometric machines that will store an image of a voter’s fingerprint together with the voter’s personal data.

The Comelec had earlier purchased an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) for P1.6 billion from Unison joint venture to cleanse the voters’ list and detect multiple registrants in the (CVL).

Cesar Flores, Smartmatic president for Southeast Asia, said that once each voter’s biometrics had been taken, the Barbados-based firm can install a fingerprint-detecting device in the 82,200 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines used in last elections and to be used in the next ones.

This, however, Flores pointed out, can only happen if the Comelec decides to finally purchase the PCOS units that it leased from Smartmatic-TIM.

“[That way, under this system], before you vote, you will have to put your fingerprint first on the device and let the machine scan it [the fingerprint] before voting,” Flores said during a roundtable with The
Manila Times. He added that this will further ensure that no multiple registrants and flying voters will be able to vote more than once in the polls.

Smartmatic first came into the business of manufacturing and developing election machines five years ago, in 2005. Before that the company was dealing with developing technical platforms for secure communications—which they have also integrated into their election machines.

According to Antonio Mugica, the firm’s international chief executive officer, they decided to dabble into manufacturing election machines after the fiasco of the George Bush vs. Al Gore presidential elections in Florida in United States where the US Supreme Court stopped the recount proceedings of the elections.

“We saw an opportunity,” Mugica recalled. “We then designed our election machines using our secure communications. In less than five years, we became number one company with this technology while some of our competitors have 30 to 40 years of experience.”

Various groups have called on the Comelc to clean the CVL.

The Comelec has admitted this to be difficult to carry out. Even after deploying more than 2,500 biometrics machines around the country, Comelec admitted it was very hard to filter out multiple registrants from the CVL unless a general registration was once again conducted.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento pointed out that the poll body cannot afford to conduct a general registration, which would require all registered (active or deactivated) voters to register again so that the commission can store their data and biometrics anew.

“It’s very hard and very expensive. I don’t think we have sufficient funds for that,” Sarmiento said.

He said he liked Smartmatic’s suggestion of putting a fingerprint-detecting device on the machines if ever the commission decides to purchase the 82,200 PCOS machines.

“That’s better. The fingerprint should be embedded in the machine. That’s a good electoral reform,” he told The Times. –BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON, Manila Times