10 May 2010 will be a milestone in the Philippines' historical time line not just because we are voting for the 15th President but also because this is the first time that we are getting automated. No more manual counting(although, politicians are seeking a parallel manual count because of the recent problems with the counting machines). It will still be paper-based for the voters, we have to shade an oval located just before the name of the candidate of our choice. Kind of like taking the NCEE exam, only it's oval. As for the teachers and volunteers, they don't have to count the votes manually, the job will now be done by the PCOS machines.
So, what are PCOS machines?
PCOS stands for Precinct Count Optical Scan. It uses electronic technology to tabulate paper ballots.
At the start of Election Day:
- the PCOS machines shall print a “zero report” to show that there are no pre-existing votes/ballots in the machine.
- The ballot boxes will be made of semi-transparent plastic which can clearly show that it is empty but at the same time make the ballots cast unreadable to protect its secrecy.
- The voters can now proceed to obtain his ballot from the Comelec officer who will verify his identity.
- After filling in the ballots by shading the appropriate oval, the voter will cast the ballot by feeding it to the PCOS machine.
- The ballot is scanned by the PCOS machine on both sides simultaneously and a scanned image of the ballot is taken by the machine and stored in it memory module.
- In case of power failure, the machines are certified to operate on back-up power for at least 12 hours.
- At the end of Election Day, the BEI will seal and shut down the PCOS machine and will print 8 copies of the election returns. Thereafter, the PCOS will electronically transmit the electronic election return to several servers, namely the Comelec server, municipal server, and the servers for election watchdogs.
Additionally, it will(should) be secured and encrypted using the same standards as what the banks use for wiring money. Hopefully, we will know the results within 48 hours.
Comelec will also be posting the results of the transmission on-line. Thus, the general public may view the results from each precinct or district or province as they come in.
Polls open on May 10 at 7 AM and voting ends at 6 PM.
Mark no more than the exact number of choices. 1 president, 1 vice president, 12 senators (you can vote for less than 12 but not more), 1 Party list, 1 mayor, 1 vice mayor, 1 governor, 1 vice governor. If you vote more than the specified number, that portion of the ballot is invalidated. Do NOT make mistakes, otherwise, you’ll spoil your ballot. Good luck.
sources: computerworld.com.ph
comelec.gov.ph
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