In the latest story that has come with the Death of Michael Jackson, websites all over the internet has showed their weakness in a time of great traffic surges. TMZ which broke the story was down, social networking sites such as Twitter had to do an on the spot makeover and limit its functionality. All this brings to mind what happened on a smaller scale back in The 2007 Philippine Elections.
Back in the elections of 2007, I was one of the many bloggers who covered the elections in great detail. One website that I expected to provide much information, but did not even come close to providing any important information, was The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) website, which wasn’t updated at all, and was also down many times during those elections, as well as the weeks before and after election day.
To say that I was pissed, is an understatement, owing to the fact that we would have thought that at least during the elections they would have prepared for such a surge in traffic — IT WAS THE ELECTIONS, WHAT DID THEY EXPECT, THREE READERS A DAY?
We wanted to know what was happening on the ground, especially in areas that seemed to have walled themselves in secrecy. We wanted to know why Lintang Bedol did not allow any election observers to observe the counting, we wanted to know so many things during those times when a little light on what was happening on the ground would have been appreciated.
One sure positive way for the electorate and the people to gain trust and confidence in THE COMELEC is of course the ability of the COMELEC to provide timely information. A good infrastructure to keep its website up and running is one way in which they will be serving The Filipino Electorate.
One suggestion, as they also focus on the automation of the elections, is that they also invest in building a sound infrastructure so that their website will be running during those important days of the election season. If they can’t even manage their own website, I’ll be damned if I trust them to automate our elections.
Second suggestion is to keep us updated, it’s pretty damn sad when in so many instances, back in 2007, even COMELEC CHAIR Benjamin Abalos seemed clueless as to what was happening on the ground. And as I said, if even the CHAIR is clueless, it is because of INCOMPETENCE, STUPIDITY, or a clear willingness to mislead the electorate — Maybe even all of the above.
Clearly, THE COMELEC has a lot on its plate, the problem I have with this commission is that they have always been rosy and upbeat in the past, assuring the electorate of clean and fair elections, and each and every time, they have failed. The have failed to inform in the past, and now they want us to once again put trust in their rosy picture scenario come 2010.
As in any process, especially as we practice our right to vote, we want transparency. Can The COMELEC rise up to the challenge?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Things that are not expected to happen, really happen. COMELEC is run
by people. People are sometimes: incompetent, stupid and are not fitted for the job. Especially if these people are political appointees. They are employed there as payment of political debts.
Or just mainly to help cheat in the election.
This is the reality of Philippine politics. We can improved it. Or we will just have the same foolishness of a contrived election again.
“Or we will just have the same foolishness of a contrived election again.”
Toro,
The Comelec actually doesn’t have much to do with the elections. And yes, its members were appointed by the administration, but the Advisory Council is extremely independent and professional. And this is THEIR system.
The system, as specified, is a huge improvement over anything in the past. It eliminates every traditional loophole/weakness. It will be very hard (virtually impossible) to manipulate the vote…never mind on a widespread basis.
Automating the polls at this point…nakakaduda.
I just watched the MAN OF THE YEAR movie in the tv cable. A political movie that tackles about the US political corruption within the system- two party system (such as lobbying and contributions…and etc). The main character was Tom Dobbs, a tv comedienne and a talk show host who is able to touch people’s frustration on divided special interest political climate. With his wit and charisma- w/c actors do always have, Tom Dobbs were pushed by public demand to run for President. He become a candidate and were able to participate in national debates with incumbent Democratic President Kelogg and Senator Mills. To make story short, Tom Dobbs, become the President-elect. But stories always have a twist. Parallel to the plot, Eleonor Green, who works for a Voting Machine Company called Delacroy. Before the elections, E. Green noticed errors in the voting machine but her Boss/Owner- James Hemmings of Delacroy ignores her. J. Hemmings learned that E. Green’s will try to go on public in revealing the computer glitched that the result of election is not reliable due to codifications. J. Hemmings character assasinated E. Green by injecting her with cocktails of drugs, which eventually fired E. Green by using the medico report that E. Green is a drug dependent. After E Green recovered from the hospital, she felt that no one will believe her, and leave her no choice to tell it to the President-Elect Tom Dobbs. To cut the story short, again :). Tom Dobbs believed E Green and walked away to become the President of USA.
A simple story, though got a low rating from US movie review (of course, it talks about their weakness), but for me this show some significance and resemblance to our very own COMELEC’s automation program and the allegations of fraud/cheating in the 2004 Presidential elections.
COMELEC’s automation at this point in time will not make it for May 2010 election, though they have their own timelines in finishing their pet project, there’s a lot to consider, and for me they will not make it. Imagine, Smartmatic said that there will be a 1.5 to 2% error margin. Let say, 1% of 40M voters, 400000 votes will be at mess…kanino mapapapunta kaya yun? Anyways, dalangin ko na maawa at mahiya itong SMARTMATIC na sabihin nila na di nila kakayanin ang May 2010…
sa 2004 election fraud/cheating in Presidential election…though everyone knows that there were massive cheating from all over the country, NAMFREL/ CBCP/ NGO’s & other civic-cause oriented groups/ABSCBN stopped their un-official counting (para nga naman walang pagbasehan o comparison sa COMELEC count) ng malaman nilang si FPJ ang mananalo…ayaw nila kasi nga actor din like erap. Pinabayaan na lang nila…Just like Delacroy of the MAN OF THE YEAR MOVIE, Delacroy try everything to destroy Ellen Green’s reputation, wag lang malaman ng public na palpak ang makina nila kahit na ang mananalong Presidente ay di ang binoto ng nakakarami. Tama ba yun???!@%$&*^
nosibalasi,
Ahhh, I recall that movie. It is bugging me, though. Who was the actor who played Dobbs? It’s driving me nuts. I can’t remember.
Any critical technology implementation has backups. Bugs infest programs, snafus hit transmissions, and people screw up. In the case of the 2010 election, there is no reasonable back-up available unless COMELEC is also planning to run manual voting side-by-side, “just in case.” I don’t believe they are taking that step.
Therefore, it falls to the “User”, in this case the Legislature, to have a fall-back position in case something goes bad during the last few weeks. If you read COMELEC’S plan, available with some hunting on their antiquated web site, you will see that the last few weeks are packed with critical steps that MUST not fail. It behooves the Legislature to have in place a back-up contingency that extends current terms for one year, so that order rather than chaos reigns.
Somehow, I expect chaos . . . nothing factual (RC), just a gut feeling . . . I hope my gut just has indigestion from all the humba I stuffed into my face at yesterday’s family gathering . . .
Joe
it was Robin Williams :). Paano ba kumuha ng screening rights (yun ba ang tawag doon?) para ipalabas ang movie na ito d2 sa pinas (again, kung naipalabas na)…timing na timing sa automation project ng COMELEC.
Nosi and Joe,
Some clarifications:
1. “Smartmatic said that there will be a 1.5 to 2% error margin”.
No, they didn’t.
The expected (and allowable) failure rate of the machines’ overall count is a fraction of a fraction (many decimal points).
That 1.5%~2% figure is the worst-case anticipated failure rate of the machines themselves. Out of 80,000 machines, smartmatic needs to be ready to expect up to 1,600 machines will need replacement in the field.
That’s why they have 2,200 extra machines…more than enough, it is mathematically assumed. Those machines will be dispersed throughout the islands so that they can deliver a replacement within 2 hours of notification of failure. That was one of the requirements from the Advisory Council.
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2. “Any critical technology implementation has backups. Bugs infest programs, snafus hit transmissions, and people screw up. In the case of the 2010 election, there is no reasonable back-up available unless COMELEC is also planning to run manual voting side-by-side, ‘just in case.’ I don’t believe they are taking that step.”
Yes, they are.
The voter fills out the ballot (use a pen to fill the circle next to the candidates name) and then slips it into the machine…like a card into an ATM. The machine reads the ballot, which then falls through the machine and into the ballot box. Those ballot boxes can be referred to if there are any perceived problems with the electronic counts.
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3. “you will see that the last few weeks are packed with critical steps that MUST not fail”
Please list them and the reasons you fear they will fail. Perhaps your gut is indeed just feeling gassy. :-)
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4. “COMELEC’s automation at this point in time will not make it for May 2010 election”
Please list any practical concern and the corresponding indication of impending failure.
4.
nosibalasi,
Ahh, Robin Williams, of course. Thanks.
Reality,
Thanks for the comfort re. the manual backup. Sounds like a good process. I’m better now. No gas, less anxiety.
Joe
Nick,
I don’t know if you can make the paralells you did.
Comelec’s web site wasn’t a priority…plus I don’t think any nation releases any counts while the elections are on-going. Meanwhile, automated elections are obviously THE core issue at Comelec. Comelec’s shortcomings on a minor sideline issue bears little impact on how they will handle THE major issue.
In addition, Comelec is not the one automating the elections, smartmatic is…and smartmatic has to follow the prescriptions laid out by the Advisory Council — which is composed of various experts from various private and public sectors of society.
I agree with you that there is great expectation and Comelec better step up and perform very well.
Nick,
Am trying to fullr understand your apprehensions and from all the information I have tracked so the the information gap is on the aspect of how COMELEC’s currect leased offices will be outfitted by the telcos with the needed bandwidth for its back-endto handle incoming data traffic.
The impression I think you and not a few are getting is how the poll body is conducting a de facto outsourcing of its own constitutional mandate.
These doubts must be disabused not simply by any commenter here at FV but by the concerned entity.
That should, at the very least be its spokesman, James Jimenez.
‘fully understand’
RC, i will.
Well, I kept looking at the technology and procedures. I looked at the timeline and the logistics. I even looked at both Smartmatic and TIM’s corporate history.
But I forgot to think about the partners’ relationship.
I just saw Melo breaking the news on ANC and am in shock. What is TIM doing??? They want more money? They feel they are going to be shortchanged? Someone slept with someone else’s wife?
The thing is…Smartmatic really didn’t need TIM for anything…other than to fulfill the 60-40 domestic-foreigner requirement. The tech (and implementation thereof) and the vast bulk of the money risked all is coming from Smartmatic, from what I know.
I don’t want to jump the gun, but I am pretty angry and I have a guess as to what happened. I’ll take my own repeated advice and wait for some solid facts to emerge.
But, geez, we really don’t need this.
RC…see i am not yet started writing my lists…and nobody were expecting that there will be problems arising from the honchos of TIM and Smartmatic…si cong locsin masyadong energized, inunahan pa yung two concerned parties.
Sana naman yung Smartmatic naman, sa akin uminom talaga sila ng SPRITE…kumbaga at magpakatotoo…sabihin na lang nila na di kakayanin yung May 2010…grabe ha…pipilitin at i-squeeze yung usual project planning and integration program ng isang lumang sistema sa makabagong sistema sa loob lamang ng 10 months…kakaduding talaga.
anyways, here are some of my concern;
1) yung marking ng ballot…is it by shading or putting an x or a check marks.
- kung by shading, kung mali ang pagkakashade (like masyado mariin, o light ang color, o sobra, and so on…babasahin ba yun ng machine o i-void.
2) preparing transmission sites parallel w/ deployment of equipments…54 days is not enough…it should be more than 90 days…
3) securing transmission sites is another problem, though if applicable and allowable, they may want to use the existing globe or smart broadband internet transceiver sites.
4) machines are designed with built-in ventilation system…during May…it is usually hot weather…and it may cause problems to some big or smaller percentage of voting precints that has no electricity or well ventilated areas. take note that smartmatics machines were been used in the cool region…and it has not been tested yet in a tropical environment condition.
5) uploading the registered voters. does the machine will accept similar names? though voters has unique ID numbers.
6) now Smartmatic, being the sole project implementor, do they know the geography? the risk areas?
Answers in the next entry…below this one. Sorry, I should have hit “reply” in the first place.
nosi,
Thanks for the detailed questions.
1. Fill in the circle next to the name with a pen provided by Comelec. No partial or hanging chads. Granted, there may still be some marks which are poorly done, but I would imagine that’s a negligible amount of voted missed.
2. & 3. There’s supposedly been a lot of work done on the transmission side. And yes, the telecom carriers will be used for the most part. Basically, the cell sites are the primary medium, but landlines and satellite comms are also available (and are the primary medium in some cases). Cellular and landline comms don’t need very special set-ups — probably 1 day is plenty. Setting up a satellite phone is virtually instantaneous and moving data is much easier than voice. Again, this is old-ish technology and implementation thereof. Nothing very new age or leading edge.
There are several simple back-up plans if a machine fails to transmit. The chips still have the data inside them and can transmit from another location. The print-outs and the ballot boxes also can be physically brought elsewhere.
4. Smartmatic has provided in machines to Venezuela, Mexico, Mindanao and Florida. They are being built in Taiwan. High heat and high humidity are not new to them. I don’t think they will overlook temp and humidity stress; the specs will specify the anticipated ranges expected. In fact, almost all electronic products require reliability tests which include climatic parameters.
5. I don’t know about this part. I’ll look into it.
6. They already had the key info before they bid. The location of the back-up supply of machines required extensive reviews of topography, roads, accessability. Plus Aboitiz’ delivery service is their partner in logistics.
Ditto for the transmission cpabilities review. They worked together with PLDT and Globe to identify all the line-of-sight transceivers (and the secondary ones for redundancy), while a sat phone-like set-up will work anywhere, regardless of topography.
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I still say they (Comelec, the Advisory Council, Smartmatic) had an excellent solution for this election. That’s why I’m still angry about TIM’s possible unilateral withdrawal.
I hope the project is saved. Perhaps Comlelec should just buy the equipment (only an extra P2B) and hire Smartmatic to be “implementing consultants”. TIM brought little to the table anyway (and here’s a case where the 60-40 split is counterproductive to the nation’s interests).
I hope this program is saved.