SURVEYORS from Smartmatic-TIM are now in Cebu to inspect polling places in the cities and towns. But their task will not include information dissemination on how to use the polling machines.

In Cebu City, Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials do not see any problem in the transmission of poll results under the automated system next year, since all telecommunication companies operate here.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

Still, Smartmatic-TIM will inspect polling precincts in the different public schools in the city on Nov. 10 and 11 to locate areas where telecommunications signal is strong, in order to identify the areas where the equipment for the transmission will be installed.

The election returns will be transmitted electronically from Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines to the local, provincial and national board of canvassers using landlines, cellular phones or satellite equipment.

“Their technical staff will visit the polling places to determine which of the telecom firms has the strongest signal here. But in Cebu City, we don’t see any problem because it’s the center of commerce, so it’s expected that the signal is strong everywhere,” lawyer Marchel Sarno said.

Education

Sarno, Cebu City election officer for the north district, said the task of educating the voters on how to use the PCOS machines and its safety features rests on Comelec. He said they will do this after they are briefed on the system next month.

Sun.Star Cebu chanced upon Smartmatic-TIM Corp.’s Arnold Banogon training eight surveyors at the Comelec provincial office yesterday afternoon.

Banogon, Smartmatic-TIM provincial coordinator, started training surveyors last Tuesday. Eight surveyors were trained for half-a-day every day since Tuesday.

A total of 54 site surveyors are needed for the inspection of the polling precincts. Banogon said that one municipality or city needs one site surveyor.

Banogon complained that some surveyors backed out because the area assigned to them was too far. But he said that there is still time to complete the target of one surveyor per area.

Surveyors are college graduates of any course with a technical background either in computers or engineering.

Smartmatic-TIM, which won the contract for the poll automation, will place equipment for the transmission of the poll results in areas where the signal is strongest.

Smartmatic-TIM’s technical staff will conduct the site survey to determine the number of landlines, and if Internet services, Wi-Fi, short messaging system and multi-media messaging are available in the precincts.

In areas where there are no landlines and telecommunication signals, a satellite communication system will be needed to transmit the poll results from the machines.

They will also check the number of classrooms and electrical sockets and their condition.

Transmission

Smartmatic-TIM officials earlier said the electronic transmission of the election returns to the city or municipal board of canvassers, to the provincial board of canvassers and to the national board of canvassers will take only two minutes.

Meanwhile, the Comelec en banc extended the deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy (COC) to midnight of Dec. 1, instead of Nov. 30.

Comelec Resolution 8692 dated Nov. 5, 2009 states that the COC “shall be filed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Nov. 20, 2009 up to Nov. 30, 2009, and up to midnight on Dec. 1, 2009, inclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays.”

Sarno said yesterday that they will only be performing ministerial functions when accepting the COC of candidates, and it is not for them to determine whether or not a certain candidate is qualified to run.