PANGASINAN election supervisor Reddy Balarbar is optimistic that the country?s first automated election on May 10 will be a success, despite mounting apprehensions that the Commission on Elections and voters may not be ready.

Balarbar, like other election officers, has been preparing hard for the automated polls since last year, attending training seminars on the use and operation of the precinct count optical scanners (PCOS).

He and other election officers have been taught how to deal with situations that may arise on Election Day. In return, he has organized fora in Pangasinan to show barangay officials, professionals, students and ordinary citizens how the PCOS works.

Balarbar has begun training members of the board of election inspectors (BEI), who will oversee voting at the precinct level. By March 27, he expects to have trained every BEI member who will man Pangasinan?s 2,334 clustered precincts.

Can anything go wrong?

?Maybe if all PCOS machines fail simultaneously and we can?t replace them. Or, when there are acts of terrorism,? Balarbar says.

Early detection

Balarbar thinks failure of a PCOS machine will be averted when the BEIs conduct testing and sealing three days before Election Day.

He says, historically, elections in Pangasinan have always been peaceful, with no ballot-snatching incident reported.

?If something is wrong with any part of the machine, such as the LCD (liquid crystal display), power supply, printer; if it does not print or if the printout is unreadable, the whole machine will be replaced,? Balarbar says.

As a contingency measure, he says Smartmatic-TIM Corp., supplier of the counting machines, will have replacements in every province. Every precinct will also have a PCOS technician.

But Dagupan councilor Michael Fernandez, Philippine Councilors? League national chair, says the Comelec should have a massive information and education campaign.

Confusion

?Since this is the first time we are doing this, we can?t avoid confusion (among) voters,? Fernandez says.

He says, because of the new ballot format, it will take time for a voter to cast his/her vote.

The voters would have to study the ballot, he says.

But Balarbar says in automated elections, the flow is basically the same though, instead of writing down the names of candidates, voters will shade ovals opposite the names of their choices. Ballots will then be inserted into the PCOS.

Fernandez says the clustering of precincts may result in long queues of voters just looking for their names.

?Based on our experience in past elections, if voters cannot find their names at once, they tend to be impatient, especially when they are already hungry. Chances are they would just leave,? he says.

Unruly watchers

Aside from a nonfunctioning PCOS machine, another concern is unruly watchers in the precinct.

Balarbar says, ?I told them (BEI members), you act as the Comelec and you should implement the rules. Try to talk to the troublemakers.?

Another possible source of aggravation is when a voter?s ballot is rejected by the PCOS machine.

?This is why I emphasize that a voter?s index finger should only be marked with indelible ink after he/she has voted. If you do this before a voter casts his/her vote, the ballot (could) get stained,? Balarbar says.

Under a new Comelec guideline, a voter may try inserting the ballot into the PCOS up to four times after which it should be returned to the BEI chair, Balarbar says.

He says the success of the automated election will depend on the PCOS and BEIs.

?I?ve been telling them (BEIs) that because they are the Comelec at the precinct level on Election Day they are on their own. I?ve told them not to be rattled, not to be afraid,? he says.

Balarbar says, with automation, the city, municipal and provincial boards of canvassers can quickly proclaim winners based on transmitted results.

?We will receive the results from the towns and cities via electronic transmission. So, before midnight on May 10, we may have already proclaimed several winners,? he says.

Fernandez says automated election results will be very hard to manipulate.

?So far, no computer expert has come out in the open to say that there?s a possibility of cheating,? he says.

?I think we should give automated election a chance and ... support it,? he says.