Finally, into the modern age?

Voters will remember 2003 as the year the Commission on Elections (Comelec) rushed into the computer age in preparation for the first automated polls in the country’s history.

After decades of counting votes by hand, the poll body became online in 2003 to ensure the automation of the May 10 national and local elections, which could prove to be the most crucial in the country’s troubled history.

Chairman Benjamin Abalos said the Comelec is pressed for time, and that they have taken some measures to speed up some processes.

A failure of computerized polls could result in "dire consequences" for a deeply divided and turbulent nation, analysts have said.

"Any doubt as to the credibility of the results of the May 2004 elections will plunge this country to civil war, and we may never see another election in a long while," a Comelec insider told The STAR.

Three months from now, the poll body will have to prepare ballots for sea-based overseas Filipino voters, who will have to cast their ballots two months earlier.

The printing of the secure, sophisticated ballots takes just about the same time.

Queues

The P3-billion Comelec modernization program saw people line up for the registration of new voters, the validation of old voters, registration in selected provinces and cities, and absentee voters registration abroad.

Voters abroad flocked to more than 80 registration sites in what had been an expensive effort to register a mere 300,000 people.

The figure could have been lower if voters had not come in droves to registration centers during the last few days of registration.

"As expected, we have a surge at the last minute," said Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuazon. "This is the Filipino habit at work again."

From a mere 219,722 OFW registrants in the first 50 days of the 60-day registration period, the number surged to almost 300,000 a few days before registration centers closed.

Despite the surge, the OFW registration proved to be a disappointment as the Comelec and the Department of Foreign Affairs had to keep reducing their projections to narrow the gap.

In the end, about 320,000 registrants, less than half of the estimated 800,000 Filipinos abroad, were expected to take part in the May polls.

OFWs blamed the strict implementing rules of the Absentee Voting Law and the distance between registration centers for the low turnout.

"We have attained our goals considering the affidavits that we are requiring," said Tuazon. "The filing of an affidavit by registrants promising to return to the Philippines in three years was seen as one of the obstacles for OFWs weary of the legal implications."

Young Voters

The youth, representing the first-time voters who had reached the legal age of 18, have also avoided registration centers, only to rush to register at the last minute.

The Comelec had to extend the registration period for a few days to accommodate the 11th hour registrants. In the final tally, six million had registered to vote.

Similarly, only around seven million of the country’s 40 million voters had their images, fingerprints, and signatures entered into computers.

The validation of voters was conducted simultaneously with the registration of new voters. It will continue after the elections until voters nationwide are recorded in the Comelec’s massive database.

At the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and some cities and towns, the poll body had to scrap the list of voters after widespread fraud was discovered.

Abalos said the decision was made after a rechecking of records unearthed fraudulent voters’ list, which included 300,000 in Metro Manila.

So widespread was the fraud that the ARMM’s 1.5 million registered voters would be trimmed down to little over a million, he added.

Controversies

Also waiting in line was the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which wanted to get Comelec accreditation to monitor next May’s elections.

After months of criticizing the Comelec, especially Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco, Namfrel mellowed down.

The poll body reined in Namfrel with the use of its accreditation and deputization powers.

Namfrel got its accreditation in December, but expressed fear that it had run out of time to prepare an independent, separate count.

On the other hand, some Comelec employees warned that the poll body is "running out of time" to put everything together before the country’s first computerized elections.

But Abalos has denied the doomsday scenario.

In June, demonstrating Comelec employees accused Abalos and his finance officer of misusing P24 million for their uniform allowance.

The employees also charged Comelec officials with using the poll body’s funds "with impunity" while leaving their benefits unpaid.

They also questioned the "unnecessary" purchase of new vehicles for Comelec officials, when their offices and equipment are in a state of disrepair, and they lack office supplies for daily use.

The daily noontime protest would soon deteriorate into a shouting and shoving match when Abalos confronted the employees.

The conflict was later settled amicably after Abalos promised to issue ready-made uniforms to the employees. But as the year drew to a close, Comelec employees continued to report for work without a uniform.

Meanwhile, the opposition expressed fear that the computerized count could be manipulated to allow pro-administration candidates to win in the elections.

The Comelec denied the accusation.

Initially, opposition lawmakers were able to convince the Comelec to agree to partial automation through a resolution of the Bicameral Conference Committee.

In the end, the Comelec had its way when the resolution was effectively scuttled.

But the Comelec had to endure embarrassment when some of the first computers to arrive conked out during test runs.

"Of course if you kept it (machines) in a very, very, very cold room then you suddenly bring it out in a hot, hot place to test it, then it would not function properly," said Abalos.