Thinking out-of-the-box: A paradigm shift

THE problem of the failed transmission of 9 million votes from the precincts in 2013 is not only a serious problem to confront but also a critical issue for the forthcoming 2016 national and local elections. Such huge number of votes, which is 23% of the 40 million electorate who voted, could make or break a candidate in 2016, especially the position of the President! In 2010, the failure rate of transmission was 9%. Will it be 40% in 2016? Heaven forbid!

According to Comelec, the contingency plan then-- in case of failed transmission-- was to manually transport and submit the PCOS machines’ compact flash (CF) cards, which contained the election returns (ERs), from the precincts to the municipal/city board of canvassing (M/CBOC). The election automation law or RA 9369 stipulates that Comelec shall electronically transmit the precinct results to the respective levels of board of canvassers and to other stakeholders. The law also states that the ERs transmitted electronically and digitally signed shall be considered as official election results and shall be used as the basis for the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of a candidate. Literally, there is no provision in the law that the election results should be manually transported.Worst, there’s no Implementing Rules and Regulations that define submission of ERs to M/CBOC by hand.