THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has virtually awarded to the joint venture of Smartmatic-TIM the P2.503-billion contract to lease to the Comelec 23,000 units of precinct-based optical mark reader (OMR), which the Comelec will use in the 2016 presidential election to augment its 82,000 units of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines also supplied by Smartmatic. The PCOS machines were used in the 2016 and 2013 elections illegally.
We and other Filipinos concerned about the absence of transparency in the precinct-level electoral process because of the illegal use of the PCOS machines thought that the Comelec BAC decision to disqualify the Venezuelan company, was the beginning of the total termination of Smartmatic’s role in our elections. We were wrong.
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