Elections

MANILA, Philippines—What can go wrong with the P7.2 billion poll automation plan of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and are there means to prevent them?

CHEATING: It is best that the possibility of automated cheating and of failure of elections in May 2010 is discussed this early, so the weaknesses of the computerized system are exposed and corrected.

THE Supreme Court clarified on Wednesday that its 8-7 decision disqualifying a town mayor for premature campaigning is not applicable to would-be candidates in the coming 2010 elections.

A lawmaker has proposed a day-off with pay for employees registering to vote for the first time.

ASIDE FROM AUTOMATED ELECTIONS MANILA, Philippines—Allaying fears of failure of elections in 2010, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will prepare for manual balloting, especially for areas with problems in electricity and telecommunications network coverage.

By a vote of 11 to 3, the Supreme Court on Sept. 10 threw out the petition of a group called Concerned Citizens Movement to nullify the contract entered into by the Commission on Elections and the Smartmatic International and Total Information Management.

NIGHTMARE: Those having nightmares about possible automated cheating and failure of election in May 2010 may want to pore over our technical information on the matter. No need to define “cheating” as all Filipinos of voting age know what this fact of life — the usurping of the popular will — means.

An internationally renowned information technology (IT) expert yesterday refuted claims by Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) and Smartmatic International Corp. (Smartmatic) joint venture, the winning bidder for the 2010 automated polls, that their hardware and software are fool-proof devices, saying they are vulnerable to attack from hackers all over the world which could render next…

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court upheld yesterday the legality of the automation of next year’s elections. In dismissing the petition of a group of concerned citizens to void the P7.2-billion automation contract, the SC said the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic Corp.-Total Information Management Inc. did not violate Republic Act 9369, the Poll Automation…

MANILA, Philippines – The fate of the country’s first automated national elections will be known tomorrow.

More than 45 million registered voters are expected to vote in the 2010 elections, an official from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 216,176 new overseas absentee voters (OAV) registered in various posts abroad for the May 2010 presidential election in the six-month registration period that ended August 31, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

There are just too many kinks needed to be ironed out if transparent, honest and orderly electronic voting, as being pushed by both the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Smartmatic-TIM, is to come about.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has again failed to achieve its eyed number of new registrants for the overseas absentee voting (OAV) for the national elections next year, missing its target of 1 million by a huge margin.

MANILA, Philippines – With two months left before the Oct. 31 deadline for voter’s registration, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already recorded more than 2.6 million new voters.

MANILA, Philippines—An IT company is giving out tickets to Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, “Inglourious Basterds,” and a day off in a bid to get its employees to register for next May’s elections.

The possibility of hacking into the automated election system is “practically nil,” a technical consultant to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday, disputing allegations made by several groups that the automated machines can be easily tampered with.

What could possibly go wrong in the automated national elections in May 2010?

tHE Commission on Elections says it will be stricter in screening all party-list groups before accrediting them to join the 2010 elections, citing a deluge of applications.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo has expressed support to the plan of the Senate to amend the Omnibus Election Code, particularly its provisions on the issue of premature campaigning.

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 17,486 Filipinos in Hong Kong have registered to vote in next year’s elections as of Aug. 5, the highest turnout worldwide, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — Close to a thousand Filipinos working abroad registered on Thursday in various posts to allow them to vote in the May 2010 presidential election, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

MANILA, Philippines – Rebel documents seized by the military showed that the communist rebels have formed a new political party and raised P1 billion to field national and local candidates in the coming May 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections has set up registration centers in schools, barangay halls and other public facilities to urge voters to register for next year’s elections.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of Filipino overseas voters has reached 159,100 after six months of registration, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 159,100 new absentee voters have registered after six months under the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) registration, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines — Supreme Court justices have expressed some doubt about the reliability of the automated election system that a foreign company would be supplying for the 2010 first-ever computerized election in the country.

British Ambassador Peter Beckingham commended the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and their partners for pushing for effective systems and resources to help marginalised sectors exercise their right to vote in the 2010 elections.

7th in a series on GMA’s 9th State of the Nation Address MANILA – Meralco’s stockholders’ meeting in 2007 saw an angry Winston Garcia on stage, perorating about the “inefficiencies” of the power retailer. That episode had been interpreted as government getting back at a perceived foe: the Lopez family.

BUTUAN CITY , Philippines   – Education Secretary Jesli Lapus disclosed that the 400,000 public school teachers who would serve in polling centers all over the country during the May 2010 elections need training for the automated polls.