Poll automation may be done only in Maguindanao

Automated elections may be held only in one of the six provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said only the elections in Maguindanao might be computerized because just one bidder qualified to supply the electronic voting system to be used in the Aug. 11 regional polls.

Jimenez said the Comelec opened last Tuesday the bidding for the automation of the ARMM elections and only the Smartmatic Sahi joint venture qualified.

“Of the 11 prospective bidders that obtained documents, two companies actually participated but only one bidder was declared eligible after the bidding process,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez said Smartmatic Sahi complied with all the eligibility requirements in the request for proposal (RFP) and submitted a bid priced even below the Comelec’s approved budget for contract.

He, however, declined to reveal the price since the bidding rules prohibit the Comelec from divulging the amount until after an award has been made.

Although Smartmatic has qualified, Jimenez said its bid for the use of direct recording electronic (DRE) technology would still undergo close scrutiny, including a demonstration today to ensure that it would meet all the RFP specifications.

According to Jimenez, Sandz Solution was disqualified because it failed to comply with the requirements.

“With the disqualification of Sandz Solution, we don’t have an optical mark reader (OMR) bid now,” he said.

Under the Comelec’s poll automation plan, DRE will be used in Maguindanao and OMR technology in the other four ARMM provinces – Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and the newly created Shariff Kabunsuan.

Jimenez said the Comelec may order a rebidding for OMR, a technology involving the use of paper ballots which are then fed to an automated counting machine.

“But we have to consider whether after complying with the required time period for bidding, there will still be enough time to implement automation in the rest of the ARMM or only the elections in Maguindanao may be automated,” he said.