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With poll automation in the 2010 elections, a new set of national officials will be known 48 hours after the precincts close, election officials said.
A demonstration of the vote counting machine was made yesterday in Cebu City before members of the Rotary Club, the first live public demonstration made by Smartmatic International Corp., Total Information Management Corp. and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) since the private consortium?s bid to handle poll automation was finalized.
The system will eliminate errors that are ?inevitable? in manual counting where exhausted teachers are ?very prone to make mistakes,? said James Jimenez, Comelec Manila spokesman.
Each voter feeds his own ballot into the machine after making his choice by shading empty ovals next to the names of candidates, instead of writing down names.
It takes only five minutes to scan the ballot and copies of the Election Returns will be instantly flashed to several points, including the Comelec website, political parties and the Comelec?s citizen?s arm.
Sharing results under secure conditions will sharply reduce the possibility of fraud after voters are cast, said Jimenez. However, voters still have to be vigilant of their roles and rights.
The system does not eliminate pre-voting election ills in the country, such as vote buying, coercion, and laziness, he said.
?Remember: You decide who the next president would be, not the Comelec.?
Smartmatic and Total Information Management, represented by manager H. Garcia, guided five Cebu volunteers in the use of the vote counting machines.
The consortium won the bid to supply the machines and train 47,200 operators for the country?s first automated polling in 2010.
