MANILA, Philippines -- Despite the widespread illiteracy in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Commission on Elections is confident that voters will adapt easily to the voting machines that will be deployed in the country’s first ever automated elections.

“While it is a very important matter, we don’t feel that it’s going to be a significant issue,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing on Friday.

Jimenez said the machines that would be used in the August 11 regional elections are “intuitive.”

Voters, he noted, don’t even have to write the names of their candidates in the ballots.

ARMM voters who will use the optical mark reader (OMR) machines, for example, will only have to shade the oval space beside their candidate. The ballot will then be fed into a counting machine that will tally and transmit the votes electronically to regional and national counting centers.

The OMR will be deployed in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces.

The Direct Recording Equipment (DRE), on the other hand, uses a touch-screen technology that will instantly record the voter’s choices. Around 3,300 DRE machines will be deployed in Maguindanao for the polls.

“It is faster and easier to use the automated voting machines than it is to write the individual names of candidates on the ballots,” Vince Dizon, spokesperson of Smartmatic-Sahi Technology, the provider of the DRE and the company in charge of the transmission of the election results.

Some ARMM leaders recently expressed fears that ARMM residents would not be ready to use the automated voting machines.

Amina Rasul voiced doubts on the introduction of new technology, saying the region’s high illiteracy rate could be a problem.

The war-torn region, considered the country’s poorest, has lagged in terms of literacy, compared with other regions.

According to the 2003 National Statistics Office’s survey on literacy and mass media, ARMM has the lowest functional literacy rate in the country, at 62.9 percent.

But Comelec chair Jose Melo has expressed confidence that the voters would cope with the new technologies. If the voters know how to operate a cell phone, they will have no problem with the machines, Melo said.

Jimenez also disclosed that the Comelec, along with citizens’ groups, has launched extensive voters’ education program in preparation for the elections.

The Comelec has trained 60 trainers to man and operate the DRE and the OMR. The 60 volunteers will then train election officers in ARMM in July.

Avante International, the OMR provider, said it has tapped the Association of Private Colleges-ARMM in its information campaign.

“That way, we would be able to reach the grassroots areas in the five provinces that we would be deployed,” Leo Querubin, Avante project manager said.

Avante is scheduled to deploy 156 automated counting machines, 312 scanners, 312 laptops, and 156 printers for 4,000 precincts, he added.

Smartmatic-Sahi, on the other hand, said it would establish practice booths in schools and municipalities to let voters get familiar with the technology.