2010 a Modern Age Election

According to the recent reports, the 2010 election will be a showcase of modernity. The Comelec just recently awarded the consortium ‘Smartmatic International and Total Management Information Corporation’ for the machines and software to be used in the 2010 Elections. It is promising to note that the results will be out in just 48 hours after the voting. Our government spent 7.2 Billion Pesos in order to modernize our election system. Comelec promised that gone are the days of manually counting the votes, vote rigging, ballot snatching and fraud.

According to the Comelec the new election process will start when a voter will be given a ballot. The voter will then select the candidates that he chooses and then drop the ballot into the machine. The data will then be processed, retaining a digital copy of the ballot. At the end of the voting day, the board of inspectors will insert a key to lock the machine. The votes will then be electronically tallied and forwarded to the local and national offices of the Comelec. Local officials can then be proclaimed minutes after voting day is over.

This is a welcome change. It’s only in the Philippines that losers claims that they are rubbed of their victory while the winners won because of fraud. This kind of culture will be extinct with the modernization of our electoral system. This will also assure us the credibility of the election process. Leaders who also won will never be accused of being in power through fraudulent means.