No turning back from auto polls despite fraud — Melo 06/30/2010

By Aytch S. de la Cruz No turning back from auto polls despite fraud — Melo 06/30/2010 Melo made the statement in response to the Locsin committee’s findings that a systematic form of cheating occurred in the last elections but affecting only the local level and not the national positions. While admitting he has yet to read the committee report in full, Melo said he cannot entirely comprehend what Locsin is claiming considering that the Comelec only used a single type of ballot and a standard program installed in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. “The way I understand it (Locsin’s claims), the defects he’s talking about are not in the machines but in the process and the people involved. Now, when he said that the national elections are okay but there were problems at the local level, that’s difficult to understand because there is only one ballot and there is only one machine which reads it. You can’t say that there was cheating on this side and on the other side there was none,” Melo argued. Melo expressed belief that the result of the automated elections last May would be the best argument to apply a similar system in the 2013 senatorial and local elections but he explained that the decision is left for the 15th Congress to make depending on its budget deliberation. Melo added that he is also unsure if the services of technology provider, Smartmatic, that supplied the PCOS machines used in the last elections that were later on found out to be susceptible to elements of fraud, would be retained for future elections. “It depends on what our advisers will tell us. If they will tell us that (it is safe for us to go on then we will use also the same PCOS machines,” he said. Melo, nonetheless, said the Comelec is standing by its previous statements that the 2010 elections have been credible enough given the fact that the poll body was able to release results in an unprecedented speed and proclaim winners earlier than before.  Saying it was too late for Locsin to point out the just concluded automated elections was marred with flaws, a militant lawmaker yesterday called on the incoming Congress to create a special commission to investigate the 2010 Automated Election System (AES). Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño made the recommendation following the release of a report by the House committee on electoral reforms and suffrage saying that there were evidences of poll cheating especially in the local level.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100630hed2.html

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