Election is a procedure that allows members of an organization or community to choose representatives who will hold positions of authority within it. Elections select local, state and national government leaders, this is a chance or an opportunity for the public to decide who will govern at these levels. To others, voting is a right but for me it is a privilege. This is a chance for the people to make choices about the policies, programs, and future directions of government action and at the same time, elections promote accountability although in our country, accountability has been an issue during elections.
Automation is a system of manufacturing designed to extend performance on certain tasks that is usually done by humans, and to control sequences of operations without human intervention. Automation is also used to describe nonmanufacturing systems in which programmed or automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human control. An example of nonmanufacturing automation is in the field of aviation where autopilots and automatic guidance systems are used to perform various operations much faster and better than humans, but still, machines can’t replace humans.
Currently, in the Philippines, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) came up with an idea to automate the voting procedure of the 2010 elections to promote accountability and accuracy since accountability has been always the issue during elections. The Commission on election sought to seek the aid of automated systems so that the counting of the ballots will be done faster and more accurate than the usual and it could lessen the risk of cheating during the elections (at least they said so)
In order to achieve this goal, the Commission on Elections granted Smartmatic and its Philippine partner Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), the winning vote in their bid, to provide 80,000 vote counting machines at a cost of $152 Million. The group made a reasonable bid to be able to lease ample number of counting machines that would allow the Commission on Elections to finish the tally process in two days instead of the manual process which usually take weeks to finish. If the automation of the country’s national election pushes through, it would be the first in the Philippines and COMELEC officials hope it could promote reliability and eliminate cheating.
The automation of the election will be a big step for the Philippines to embrace IT or embrace contemporary ways of doing things by means of using technology instead of doing it in its usual manner. I personally have a positive outlook or point of view in this automation, not just because I am an IT student but because I want what’s best for my country. The Filipino people have been looking forward to a peaceful and honest election and I think that the automation could make that happen. This could be a turning point in the Philippine elections.
I personally support COMELEC’s campaign for automation because it poses many advantages. In the previous elections, voters write the names of their chosen candidates in a piece of paper and they are counted manually which is a system that is prone to cheating and often disfigured by violence. Even though after the counting of ballots have been done, winners were not known even a week after the balloting but in the new system the counting of ballots will be a lot quicker and more accurate.
However, critics/skeptics think that the automation might greatly degrade the accountability of the elections for the fact that it is a machine and it has an imbedded program so it is much easier to cheat by just tinkering the program of the machine. I think it is absurd to call such judgment because of the fact that calling such judgment greatly impacts the manufacturer of the machines and I think that no one can possibly tamper the program of the machines especially on the Election Day or prior to the election. The machines that will be used in the election is controlled by the manufacturer and COMELEC and that the only people that have access to the machines are those who are within their organizational scope or if they would have a specialist who will administer the machines. Thus, saying that if ever that the machines will be tampered those are the only people who will take the blame. I think that these people who initiated this campaign will not be the one who will break their code of ethics and try to tinker the machines for cheating. Also, this is not the first time of Smartmatic in terms of automation or electronic voting. Smartmatic has experienced administering electronic voting in other countries and 80 percent of the tally results were already available within or after six to five hours after the polls have been closed.
Smartmatic also has plans or emergency procedures in case of unwanted events. The company will be providing 40,000 technical staff nationwide that will help in administering the machines and they will be providing additional 2,200 machines to replace any of those machines in case any of the machines will be damaged or will have breakdowns. The machines will also be equipped with emergency power supply units in case there would be blackouts.
Recently, there was news about the automation being put to jeopardy because the Total Information Management Inc. which is the local partner of Smartmatic in the Philippines suddenly cut its ties with Smartmatic which gave the Filipino people and impression that the election will be done traditionally or it would be that we will go back to manual voting. There had been speculations that the government was behind the sudden withdrawal of TIM however, TIM denied this speculations and claimed that it was because of money issues. Now, TIM has reestablished their connections with Smartmatic and said that the automation of the 2010 elections will push through. Upon hearing the news about the withdrawal of TIM from Smartmatic it gave me an impression that the Filipino people would be denied of a chance to embrace the future and graze to the new era. I thought that those people who judge the automation badly are those people who have been swallowed by traditional ways and wish to stay traditional. I know that not all Filipino people are afraid to venture into the unknown and I know the people have been eager to evolve and grow and not linger into the past. Looking at the level or where the other countries are, we need to look at ourselves and think if we want to be left behind. I hope that the automation will push through and that there will be no problems that will stop it.
Automation is a system of manufacturing designed to extend performance on certain tasks that is usually done by humans, and to control sequences of operations without human intervention. Automation is also used to describe nonmanufacturing systems in which programmed or automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human control. An example of nonmanufacturing automation is in the field of aviation where autopilots and automatic guidance systems are used to perform various operations much faster and better than humans, but still, machines can’t replace humans.
Currently, in the Philippines, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) came up with an idea to automate the voting procedure of the 2010 elections to promote accountability and accuracy since accountability has been always the issue during elections. The Commission on election sought to seek the aid of automated systems so that the counting of the ballots will be done faster and more accurate than the usual and it could lessen the risk of cheating during the elections (at least they said so)
In order to achieve this goal, the Commission on Elections granted Smartmatic and its Philippine partner Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), the winning vote in their bid, to provide 80,000 vote counting machines at a cost of $152 Million. The group made a reasonable bid to be able to lease ample number of counting machines that would allow the Commission on Elections to finish the tally process in two days instead of the manual process which usually take weeks to finish. If the automation of the country’s national election pushes through, it would be the first in the Philippines and COMELEC officials hope it could promote reliability and eliminate cheating.
The automation of the election will be a big step for the Philippines to embrace IT or embrace contemporary ways of doing things by means of using technology instead of doing it in its usual manner. I personally have a positive outlook or point of view in this automation, not just because I am an IT student but because I want what’s best for my country. The Filipino people have been looking forward to a peaceful and honest election and I think that the automation could make that happen. This could be a turning point in the Philippine elections.
I personally support COMELEC’s campaign for automation because it poses many advantages. In the previous elections, voters write the names of their chosen candidates in a piece of paper and they are counted manually which is a system that is prone to cheating and often disfigured by violence. Even though after the counting of ballots have been done, winners were not known even a week after the balloting but in the new system the counting of ballots will be a lot quicker and more accurate.
However, critics/skeptics think that the automation might greatly degrade the accountability of the elections for the fact that it is a machine and it has an imbedded program so it is much easier to cheat by just tinkering the program of the machine. I think it is absurd to call such judgment because of the fact that calling such judgment greatly impacts the manufacturer of the machines and I think that no one can possibly tamper the program of the machines especially on the Election Day or prior to the election. The machines that will be used in the election is controlled by the manufacturer and COMELEC and that the only people that have access to the machines are those who are within their organizational scope or if they would have a specialist who will administer the machines. Thus, saying that if ever that the machines will be tampered those are the only people who will take the blame. I think that these people who initiated this campaign will not be the one who will break their code of ethics and try to tinker the machines for cheating. Also, this is not the first time of Smartmatic in terms of automation or electronic voting. Smartmatic has experienced administering electronic voting in other countries and 80 percent of the tally results were already available within or after six to five hours after the polls have been closed.
Smartmatic also has plans or emergency procedures in case of unwanted events. The company will be providing 40,000 technical staff nationwide that will help in administering the machines and they will be providing additional 2,200 machines to replace any of those machines in case any of the machines will be damaged or will have breakdowns. The machines will also be equipped with emergency power supply units in case there would be blackouts.
Recently, there was news about the automation being put to jeopardy because the Total Information Management Inc. which is the local partner of Smartmatic in the Philippines suddenly cut its ties with Smartmatic which gave the Filipino people and impression that the election will be done traditionally or it would be that we will go back to manual voting. There had been speculations that the government was behind the sudden withdrawal of TIM however, TIM denied this speculations and claimed that it was because of money issues. Now, TIM has reestablished their connections with Smartmatic and said that the automation of the 2010 elections will push through. Upon hearing the news about the withdrawal of TIM from Smartmatic it gave me an impression that the Filipino people would be denied of a chance to embrace the future and graze to the new era. I thought that those people who judge the automation badly are those people who have been swallowed by traditional ways and wish to stay traditional. I know that not all Filipino people are afraid to venture into the unknown and I know the people have been eager to evolve and grow and not linger into the past. Looking at the level or where the other countries are, we need to look at ourselves and think if we want to be left behind. I hope that the automation will push through and that there will be no problems that will stop it.
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