by Alex Rolan
“When it rains, it pours,” as the saying goes. This is the situation that the Comelec was in last week when reports of the failed mock elections from some parts of the nation suddenly flooded them. The mock election is a process to determine if indeed the PCOS machine works, and “knows how to count”. The whole nation was so nervous that many thought that this could be the prelude to the “no-el” scenario foretold by some several months back.
Some sectors are calling for the postponement of the polls while others want to revert to the manual counting of the ballots. For days, there was confusion on what to do if ever the computer program anomaly cannot be remedied. On my radio program, some listeners said they have completely lost trust in the computerized elections. The nation was sort of in a quandary on the issue.
It was clear to everyone then that the Comelec has put all its trust in Smartmatic-TIM and has not prepared any plans should the automated election venture fail. As of this writing, reconfigured or corrected memory disks had yet to reach many places in the country. The Comelec has admitted that some memory disks may not make it to their destination in time for the May 10 election.
All we heard from them from the start was about the reliability of the system, that everything was on schedule, that everything was going to be fine, and that they have a near foolproof system that cannot be easily manipulated by people with “Garci” motives. But alas, a few days before the election, the much touted machines could not count the votes properly! There were reports that the machines, particularly in the local elections, only recognize votes for administration candidates.
Whatever happened to the computer program to make the PCOS machines as reliable counting apparatus in this election is everybody’s guess.
I am not saying that I am an expert in computer programs, for in reality, I even hardly passed my EDP-1 during college days. However, I would like to look into the project planning process in developing the computer program to be used in out first ever automated election.
I can fully understand that system failures always occur, and computer programs have glitches. But, I cannot comprehend why the computer program that is supposed to be the heart of this election process can’t recognize the votes properly? It is very evident that the failure is not about defective memory cards that carry the computer program or the PCOS machine, but the computer program itself.
The Smartmatic executive with the Comelec commissioners who faced the media explained that the anomaly lies in the space used for different sets of candidates in the ballot. The front part which is for national positions are lined in rows and columns in single-space, while double-space for the local positions. This is the cause why the PCOS machines cannot read properly – as the alignment of the marks that will be recognized in the computer program does not match with the spaces in the ballot. It is that simple. It is about adjusting the program to match with the spaces on the ballots!
All the more that we should be worried. A multi-billion-computerization project would miss on simple spaces? Would you believe that?
It makes you wonder how this company evaluates the computer programs they produced before being released. This calls for a review of the reputation of this company as well as the people of Comelec who are tasked to make sure that everything goes well until the votes are counted.
My lessons in project development tell me, that the haste to jump to the implementation phase is the main cause of most project failures. Managers who are too concerned with profit making believe that due diligence and planning represent unwarranted delays, would unnecessarily increase the cost, and want to see concrete results as soon as possible.
But I believe that the failed program used in the PCOS was not made in haste and definitely corners were not cut to meet the deadline. This is a 7-billion project and the potential is so great if this project succeeds – we have elections every now and then. The reason why a simple space was missed is a mystery only known by Smartmatic, the Comelec and probably some people in Malacanang.
For comments, e-mail to: roldanalex@yahoo.com
