US firm bids for 2010 polls

The US firm that allegedly supplied defective machines for the 2004 US presidential election has submitted a proposal to automate the 2010 presidential polls here, an election watchdog official said yesterday.

Roberto Versola, secretary general of election watchdog Halalang Marangal (Halal), told The STAR that Election System and Software (ES&S) is among 13 firms that sent a proposal to the Commission on Elections late last year.

The ES&S was the supplier of the flawed computer machine used in the US election in 2004.

Dan Rather, a respected US news anchor, reported in his television program that the machine used in the US midterm election was made in the Philippines by its local counterpart Teletech.

Rather came out last Wednesday (Tuesday US time) with an exposé that the flaws in the voting machines used in the US elections might have altered the results of the US presidential race.

Some of the machines were made in “Philippine sweatshops,” according to the story. It was a major story on American television.

It turned out that ES&S also has a pending bid to automate the next Philippine elections, Versola said.

The election watchdog official earlier warned against possible flaws in the computer machines that will be used in the 2010 presidential election.

Halal reported that cheating would be easier if the election is automated because it could not easily be detected.

“It would be hard to detect cheating if election will be computerized,” Versola said.