Comelec’s PCOS purchase ‘one big wrong step’ to 2013 polls — watchdog By Pat C. Santos 04/03/2012

Comelec’s PCOS purchase ‘one big wrong step’ to 2013 polls — watchdog

By Pat C. Santos 04/03/2012
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) took “one big wrong step” toward the 2013 polls when it purchased Smartmatic International Corp.’s counting machines for the country’s elections, according to a workers’ electoral watchdog

Workers’ Electoral Watch (WE Watch), a network of workers advocating democratic and trans-parent polls, said the Comelec failed to draw lessons from the country’s exercise of the first automated polls in 2010 when it decided to purchase and re-use the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for next year’s elections with a P1.8-billion price tag.

“The road to the 2013 midterm elections should have been an opportunity to democratize the development of technology for the country’s elections. Unfortunately, the Comelec shut the doors for the Filipino IT community’s meaningful participation.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120403hea3.html