Regardless of whether it will be full, partial or zero automation

Election watchdog group Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) is ready for full, partial, or zero automation, said co-convenor Carlos Medina.  

From 6,000 volunteer lawyers in the 2007 elections, Medina said they are working to recruit at least 10,000 volunteers for the 2010 polls so they can have a good presence in every province.

Even as full automation of 2010 polls is back on track with the reconciliation of the partners in the winning consortium, Medina said they still have to prepare for partial or even zero automation scenarios.

The possibility of returning to the discredited manual elections loomed when local firm Total Information Management (TIM) threatened last Monday to withdraw from its joint venture agreement with Barbados-based Smartmatic. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) facilitated the reconciliation on Friday.

But Medina is wary about the reconciliation.

“I hope that the reconciliation is based on genuine resolution of issues. That is good. But I’d be worried if it’s just a shotgun marriage. Baka pumutok na naman in the next few months,” he told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

“If the reconciliation is temporary and it blows up in the middle of preparations for 2010 elections, we may not have time anymore to even prepare for manual elections. Now, we can still remedy the situation. Comelec can partner with Smartmatic,” Medina added.

Glitches in automation

Medina said the August 2008 poll automation exercise in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) taught them to prepare for manual elections in case of computer glitches.

“Even if they decide on full automation, we cannot be 100 percent sure that all the machines won’t have any problems. It may still be manual in some areas. If that happens, we are ready,” he said.

“We have to prepare for that contingency. Our preparations have been for both manual and automated elections. Automated polls is our primary system, of course,” Medina added.

The strategies in guarding against election cheating in automated and manual polls are different.

If it’s fully automated, Medina said their lawyers will have to focus on voting day and the days before the actual election. 

Election watchdog groups noted intensified vote-buying, campaign violence, and intimidation in the ARMM automated polls.

Medina said these cases may intensify because it may be the only opportunity to influence the election results.  

“There is still a possibility that there may be interference in the counting and canvassing, but it will be reduced. They will focus on vote-buying and intimidation to prevent people from voting,” Medina said.

In manual elections, the lawyers will also focus on the counting and canvassing--where dagdag-bawas or vote-padding and vote-shaving happens.  

Medina is not discounting partial automation, too.

Relatedly, Atty. Edwin Lacierda  of the Black and White Movement said he doubts that Comelec could fully automate next year's general elections.

"On the part of the Comelec, I don't think full automation will work since the scale is nationwide and there is hardly a learning curve on their part. The ARMM automated election can't be used as basis because there was hardly a contest at all," he said.

Lacierda said he has grave doubts about automation since Smartmatic and TIM's relationship is tainted already by the involvement of a member of the Aboitiz clan. He added that Smartmatic has not proven that it can automate a nationwide election in an archipelago. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

RELATED STORIES
• Poll watchdogs oppose hybrid polls
• Poll watchdogs: ARMM polls better but still not fraud-free
• Citizens' watchdog or sensationalists? Striking the balance

---

INTERACT WITH THIS ARTICLE