Source code still useful–Brillantes

Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—The review of the source code may still come in handy for groups and losing candidates planning to file complaints over the results of the May 13 polls, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

No less than Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. is offering to various groups the use of the review results in challenging the outcome of the elections in court.

“They are saying that it’s too late. Why is it too late when you can use it precisely to question the validity of the elections,” Brillantes told reporters.

Earlier, Solidarity Philippines and Kontra Daya said they would file a complaint in the Supreme Court and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights against the Comelec for allegedly committing lapses during the elections, making the results dubious and questionable.

Bring it on

A former election lawyer himself, Brillantes said that parties questioning the validity of the elections may raise issues involving the source code with the review in place.

The source code is the human-readable representation of the instructions that regulate the operation of the computer that scans and counts the ballots, among other things.

According to the Poll Automation Law, a source code review should be conducted on the automated elections system prior to the elections and the source code reviewed should be the same as the one used by the precinct count optical scan machines.

Ongoing court case

The Comelec had a difficult time obtaining the source code from its owner, Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which has an ongoing legal dispute with its former corporate partner, Smartmatic, in the United States.

The source code was only handed over to the Comelec a few days before Election Day, giving political parties and other interested groups only two days to look thoroughly into it.

On May 9, the Liberal Party, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, and election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting looked into the source code for possible “malicious entries.”

Brillantes said the source code review may continue even if the elections are over.

“If they want to continue, it’s OK with us. That is up to them and we are making the source code available for review,” he added.