LAST MAY, the Philippines made history by having the National Elections automated. August 16 and 17 marked a similar feat for the Ateneo as the 2010 Sanggunian Special and Freshmen Elections introduced automation for the very first time.
With the assistance of the Ateneo Management Information Systems Association (MISA), the Ateneo Commission on Elections (Comelec) sought to centralize the voting process of the elections and abolish the less convenient voting method of going to stations located in different parts of the campus and manually casting votes.
Unlike the National Elections however, the students will not cast their votes using Precinct Count Optical Scanners (PCOS) machines, but through laptops containing the logical system created by the members of MISA.
The Comelec said that Acer would lend the laptops but no final agreement had been made as of press time.
The system
According to John Reuben Madrasto (IV BS MIS), the concept of the automation started with the Office of Student Activities’ (OSA) Business Cluster Officer Elections last school year. He added that the automation system they created didn’t encounter any problems when it was applied.
“Nagkaroon lang ng problema kasi kulang yung tao nila (Problems emerged due to lack of manpower) but our system didn’t have a problem,” said Madrasto. He said that the automated system is quite simple and easily comprehensible for the students who will vote.
As an assurance, Madrasto and his team composed of other MIS students said that no system failures were reported by the Business Cluster who utilized the automated system last school year in their officer elections.
He added that they will make sure that the system will be error free as the same system will most likely be utilized for the Sanggunian General Elections next semester.
With automation being implemented in the Sanggu elections for the first time, students are hoping that the Comelec will execute the new voting system properly.
“I’m worried how they will educate the students [on] the proper way of voting. It’s a new system, so they need to teach the students how to use it. Voters’ education [should be put into action]. If they pull it off, then it’s good,” sophomore Maria Inigo said.
Even before the National Elections
Although the automation of the elections was inspired by the PCOS machine-powered National Elections, Comelec Commissioner for Human Resources Divina Maderal said that the Comelec has wanted to automate the Sanggunian elections even before the National Elections took place.
“Matagal na siyang planned ([The automation] has been planned for quite some time already). But we’re only able to implement it now with the Special and Freshmen Elections”, Maderal said.
Comelec Commissioner for Logistics Jon Andre Vergara said that they would find out if the automation would be error-free after the mock elections. He added that he is hopeful that problems will be minimal, if not totally absent.
The automated mock elections were set on August 11 to 12.
Student reactions
According to students from various year levels and courses, they expect a higher voter turnout should the elections be automated.
“I hope this will encourage the students to vote because personally, I’m excited to do so upon learning about this new system,” said sophomore Anne Dorcas Domingo.
Senior Tomas Jaime Valenton shared the same sentiment. “I expect that this change in the election would encourage more students to exercise their right to vote. In the recent years, there have been problems in reaching the quota so hopefully the automated elections will change this trend.”
