Sunday, August 02, 2009

Gordon: Poll Automation Will Avert Cheating In 2010 Elections


Sen. Richard Gordon was the guest of the Aklan Media Forum on July 20. He is shown cutting the ribbon of its office at Arguelles Bldg., Rizal St., Kalibo, Aklan.

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon is optimistic, automation of the country’s electoral system would avert cheating in elections and ensure honest, clean, speedy and credible nationwide polls.

In his speech delivered in Aliputos, Numancia, Aklan last week, Gordon, principal author of Republic Act (RA) 9369 or the amended Automated Elections System (AES) Law, said the law has enough measures to prevent hacking of the computer system that would be used to automate the May 2010 presidential elections.

"Some unscrupulous individuals may try to hack into the computer system that will be employed in the poll automation. However, the law has sufficient safeguards to ensure they will not succeed," he said.

"We are trying to put a stop to the wholesale cheating that has marred our elections in the past," he added.

Gordon dispelled skepticisms by some quarters that no machine could be fool-proof to cheating and manipulation.

To snuff out fears that the automation system would merely bring in "automated cheating," he said the law, which is technology-neutral, has mandated at least 16 "minimum system requirements" to ensure clean, honest and credible elections.

He pointed out that there would be no time for the "cheating scholars" to study the system and find a way to hack it since the law requires for a system that would consolidate report and display election results in the shortest time possible.

Gordon added that it would not be possible to access the system and change votes because the law also mandates for a voter verified paper audit trail.

"The law calls for an auditable system that would provide supporting documentation for verifying the correctness of reported election results, so there is no need to fear that the ‘cheating scholars’ would gain access and manipulate the data in the system," he said.

"The May 2010 automated elections will be a legacy to the country’s future generations since it would be the first ever national elections that would be fast and fraud-free," he added. /MP

1 comment:

botomoto said...

poll automation will definitely not solve electoral fraud. it will, however, drastically change the playing field and render many time-tested cheating processes useless. in short, it will at least minimize the risks. for this alone poll automation is worth supporting. it's a step forward, an incremental one, but still a step forward in the evolution of philippine elctions.