‘Full steam ahead,’ says Melo on signing of automation deal
By Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:44:00 05/15/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- It’s “full steam ahead,” said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose A.R. Melo after the poll body formally signed a contract that would ensure the automation of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the middle of this year.
Leo Quirubin, representative for Avanti International Technologies, Inc. signed the contract for its CEO, Kevin Chung.
“We are happy to have Avanti as our other partner in the automated elections on August 11 in ARMM,” said Melo.
Avanti is one of two companies that will provide the machines, the other is Smartmatic-Sahi Technologies, Inc., Melo said.
The automation of the ARMM elections is expected to curb cheating during the casting and counting of ballots.
Avanti will be providing the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) Technology to be used in the elections in the provinces of Tawi-tawi, Basilan, Sharif Kabunsuan, Sulu and Lanao del Sur. The Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) technology will be used in Maguindanao.
In the official launching of the ARMM election automation project last May 14, both providers assured the Comelec that their services would guarantee “tamper proof” ballots. Representatives from both companies presented some of the security measures that their system featured.
The OMR requires voters to fill out a paper ballot which will be scanned by specially designed machines, according to Avanti.
The DRE uses touch-screen or touch-pad technology and is fully automated, according to Smartmatic-Sahi. Since there will be “no human intervention,” the ballots are protected and cannot be tampered with, it added.
After the contact signing, Melo said that the Comelec was hoping that things would run smoothly during the ARMM elections.
“We hope that everything will be successful. With the cooperation of everybody, we will be successful,” Melo added.
The automation of the ARMM elections has a budget allocation of about P867 million from the Department of Budget and Management.
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