Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Why we Pilipinos lost in the 2010 Electronic Elections, Or How to build a more Pro Pilipino Election System



Even assuming that the 2010 Electronic Elections is implemented flawlessly, we Pilipinos already lost. We lost at least P7 billion leasing a system that can only be used once, and that will remain the property of Smartmatic. Oh they can do a PR by donating these machines to the COMELEC since the money they were paid surely have covered the cost plus of the machines. But in 3 years time in the next elections most of these will already be faulty.

We lost because most of the money will go out of the Philippines.

We lost because instead of employing mostly local experts in the hardware and software, we did not.

We lost because instead of assembling the hardware here, it was done in China.

We lost because, as Jun Lozada said, it was again vendor-driven instead of user-driven.


In the next elections, we have to implement a more pro Pilipino Election system.

Where after the election the hardware can be used for educational purposes

Where local experts are employed in the design and manufacture

Where assembly happens in the Philippines

Where the software is open source and open to everyone to assess its security

Where there are no ballots to transport

Where additional communications facilities built for it can be used later for public interest use


The concept design of Appropriate Systems is

PC–based with open source software using a cellphone to transmit and printing out a receipt

It is GUI touchscreen with 2 panels, the candidates on the left and the selected ones on the right

Receipt will be deposited on the ballot box for audit purposes

02 May 2010 23:15

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