How confident are you in the automated election
By knicnax
@knicnax (2233)
Philippines
April 27, 2010 10:48am CST
I attended the voters PCOS demonstration a while ago. Although I really wanted to have an automated election, I still asked a lot of questions because I want to be really sure that the PCOS machine is up to the challenge.
No system nor component is perfect, I admit the PCOSs has its flaws, but I still find it great! I really hope we will have a smooth election process this time.'
How about you? Do you like the idea of automated elections? do you like to use the PCOS machine? what enhancements/features would you like the PCOS machine to have
*PCOS = Precinct Count Optical Scan
1 person likes this
14 responses
@bretski_kimie (153)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
Frankly speaking i have lost hope of a clean elction in the Philippines. Having an automated and manual election don't matter. It is on the part of how our political system works in our country that tarnishes our election processes. Politicians are more of being businessmen rather than servicemen so to speak. They make business out of politics. That is very sad and that is why lots of Filipinos do not trust elections anymore.
@art719pinoyguide (342)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
I am worrying for the coming automated election. I am not confident with the system. All I know is this country is full of cheater.
@dorothy09 (1520)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
hi there knicknax, I am not confident with the automated election, well the machine can give us very fast result the result is still on the hands of the comelec.. in the hands of dishonest people, in the hands of selfish and thirst of power individual..
I am just tired of politics.. I just hope and pray that whoever president NONONO for villar who will win can do his job very well with utmost sincere and honesty thus SERVICE
happy mylotting and have a great day
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
there are a lot of safety precautions with the system.
There is a feature there that it sends the results to various servers, right? One of the servers will be used to post the REAL-TIME canvass results online! cool huh?
it's a safety precaution for canvass manipulating
@ghieptc (2522)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
Not actually too confident about it, coz I just have a little doubt about this coming election wondering why but maybe there's something planned to manipulate or whatever it is, I just hope that this coming election will be smooth, peace and make everyone a right choice for candidates...
@itsgracieme23 (6)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
I hope the May 2010 elections will be successful, whether it is automated or not it will depend on the people behind the system.
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
This will be the first automated election in our country and I am also excited to have the election done in automatic way. They say the old way is much easier but I think this PCOS machine is much better and faster. It will be my first vote ever and even though i have difficulty choosing my candidates I am still looking for this coming election.
I just hope that we can have a new president this coming May. And I also hope and pray that there will be no cheating anymore so that we can have a peaceful election. It's so tiring that in every election there is cheating.
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
This is the second election that I'll be participating to. The first one was for local posts and another set of senators.
I am eager to have the automated elections, for me, manual count is not even a 1 mile near the performance of automated elections.
People who told you that the old way is easier have been brainwashed to think that way. how could that be easier? you have to write the names of the candidates. how many positions are there? If your writing isn't legible, how do you expect it to be read properly once the counting is started?
with the automated elections, you have to shade the circle corresponding to your candidate, feed it to the machine, the machine read your vote, add it to the tally, then the normal process of indelible ink and fingerprint stuff is done. then you're good to go.
cheating methodologies like opening the ballot box prior to canvassing and removing ballots that favor the opponents of your candidate and adding ballots that favor your candidate; getting the excess ballots when the elections have closed on a certain precinct then using them on a nearby precinct to favor your candidate and the likes are if not eliminated, greatly minimized.
@merlibradley (407)
• Philippines
27 Apr 10
I have been looking forward to having an automated election but the way things are going on makes me think that we are not yet ready for this one. I have lots of doubts on the reliability of the PCOS machine. Even if they say that it eliminated cheating, the new system I think is prone to cheating. We can just hope for the best.
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
when i went to the seminar, I was amazed at the extend of security and safeguards on the machine. The only problem would be the people in position who are able to tamper with the machine.
Like our manual elections, it depends on the people who are using it. What the PCOS machine did was if not eliminate, to make it very improbable to cheat
@jlamela (4898)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
The positive thing is that, finally Philippines has adopted this technology for the national election to minimize the effort and time spent just to count votes. But the negative thing is that, I am afraid this will become another foreground of massive cheating and fraud and manipulation, granting the attitude of some of the Filipinos to do everything just to win and be in power, the automated election becomes a subject of doubts and discomfort to some including me. I am just hoping that those people who have the capacity to manipulate the result, who are greed and aggressive to win, won't succeed to do evil. I am only hoping for the best.
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
Everyone is. Let's do our part in making this election a successful one.
The PCOS machine have a lot of features for security, but like what you said, if there are people who would reallyreally want to win and manipulate the elections still, there probably can because people would let them
@hunterkim_07 (458)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
Hi. Like everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages when there's something new. The idea of automated election is to have faster and reliable polls, not to mention to reduce cheating. However, there are still BUTs. Are we really sure about this? Technology can not be trusted at all times. In this case, once the power fails, it's all gone. And, come on, we Filipinos are very innovative in every aspect. Surely, our politicians won't let the automation get in their way. They will find a way to do again all the cheating they've done in the past - now the high-tech way. For them, every thing is possible with MONEY. What a pathetic politics we have.
I'm not confident, excited, or whatever in this election.
@arreolabryan (856)
• Philippines
1 May 10
The machines will not fail us. It will do what it is told to do. If programed right it will sure do what it should do.
@pacpacboom (151)
• Philippines
27 Apr 10
hi knicnax. i like an automated election because it is fast the results will be known immediately. however, what i'm concern about is the peace and order situation. last night, the news said that one of the comelec offices in bulacan was purposely burned. the government must see to it that the no one, for whatever reason, will disrupt the 2010 election although there are still evil minded individuals lurking around trying very hard to do this. but i firmly believe that the filipinos would really love to see a very credible and honest election.
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
actually that's the sad thing with the automated elections.
since the PCOS machines have greatly reduced the chance of cheating, evil people are resorting to grave offenses just to delay the elections, or probably eliminate citizens who wouldnt vote for their candidate
@ricdem99 (34)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
This is the very first Automated Election. Another historical event that can be added on our kids text book at school. It is expected that there will be problems but hopefully minor ones. It will not be perfect nor would it be smooth. But the thing is to PREPARE for anything that would compromise results.
We should always be positive in dealing with "What ifs" instead of actually letting them rule over you. We must do our part to ensure that this election would be what we, the people, want and deserve. It is not just the COMELEC who should be vigilant. But also the people.
I am bringing flash light with new batteries on election day in case of brown out. I'll even bring a generator if i have to.
Those PCOS will change history. Protect it. Be vigilant.
@greencard13 (317)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
I am confident that the COMELEC can do their job right. People who wish for manual counting is the one who ruins the mood for automated elections. PCOS will have flaws and it is normal, we will have troubles with this coming election because it will be the first time in history where Filipino will be experiencing automated elections.
Well hope the best candidate will win...
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
28 Apr 10
In my opinion, those who want a manual count are those who are looking for ways to cheat in the elctions by discrediting the PCOS machines.
Yeah, it is normal to have a few problems. Nobody's perfect, and I'm sure as hell that in this world, Nothing's perfect.
But if we work together to make things almost perfect, then we can have a good and proper election
