The Comelec should complete the audit tests

MANILA, Philippines - Political normalcy is setting in and, for many people, the 2010 elections is over. It is not. Apart from the planning and preparations, there are four stages to the election proper, namely, (1) the voting and counting which is over except for 1,000 precincts where the votes still have to be counted because replacement Cf cards had to be replaced again, and 11 municipalities where special elections will be held; (2) the transmission, which is mostly over, except for about 3,000 precincts which have not been transmitted for various reasons (which partially, but not fully, explains why the unofficial count seems stuck at about 89%); (3) the canvassing and proclamation stage which is still ongoing and (4) the post-election audit processes, such as the random manual audit and the hash test of the PCOS machines, which still have to be done.

For the voting, counting and transmission stages, the voters, despite certain inconveniences, liked the speed of the precinct count and trusted that the machine was accurate. Their verdict on these stages is a resounding congratulations to the Comelec and its deputies, specially the teachers.

The Comelec can rightly celebrate the moment but the transmission delays must be explained and the post-election audits must be fully accomplished. The Comelec must show beyond doubt that there is no internal rigging of any kind, which is the most sinister threat to automated elections because it can done even with the appearance of free, fair and orderly elections.

The audits are: (a) a random manual audit for about 1,200 PCOS machines and the examination of the “root cause” of any material differences between the manual and the electronic counts, (b) a hash test of the PCOS machines in the RMA with material differences in the results, and (c) a 100% hash test of the PCOS machines before the final payment to Smartmatic, as proposed by its Technical Evaluation Committee, to which the political parties should be invited.

Under the law, if the RMA shows material differences between the manual count and the electronic count, the Comelec has to determine the “root cause” and initiate a manual count of all the precincts affected by the computer or procedural error.

As for the canvassing and proclamation, while there are only a few protests so far about the counts and the new limitations on pre-proclamation petitions, we will know in a few days if this is a bigger problem than presently being encountered by the Comelec on the canvassing. Local elections cover over 98% of the contested offices and the Comelec must oversee this process very well if the acceptance of the results which has averaged above 95% in all previous elections after EDSA I will be exceeded, or at least be the same, for the automated elections.