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Manila: Maguindanao will be the first province in the country to experience an automated poll as the electoral commission Comelec signs a 525 million pesos (Dh47.7 million) contract with a private firm.
The contract was signed with South American firm Smartmatic Sahi Joint Ventures (Smartmatic) to computerise voting in Maguindanao, often a problem area during polls.
The contract will allow Smartmatic to use direct recording electronic (DRE) technology in Maguindanao after the Comelec's technical advisory committee recommended the use of two systems in the August elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The other technology is called optical mark reader (OMR) system which is less expensive than DRE.
The DRE is a touch screen system where voters just key in the candidates' names. The OMR requires a ballot where voters shade ovals with corresponding names of candidates and which is scanned using a machine.
The Comelec earlier junked pursuing the poll automation after no bidder was able to meet its technical requirements. It was however given the go signal by Congress by suspending a law prohibiting government agencies from purchasing items without going through bidding.
"If we do not automate this elections, how can the public expect us to do a better job in the 2010 elections?" asked Comelec Chairman Jose Melo yesterday after the contract signing ceremony.
Clean sweep
He said Smartmatic will be deploying a total of 3,030 units in every voting precinct in Maguindanao, the province where the administration's senatorial ticket made a clean sweep of votes last year.
The region has a total of 1.7 million voters and is often involved in poll cheating as politicians resort to vote-buying.
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