Manual audit differs from PCOS count in mock polls

THE random manual audit (RMA) of the mock election results held by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Saturday night at the University of the Philippines–Integrated School (UPIS) in Quezon City has revealed disparities from the ones released by the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

According to Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chairperson Henrietta de Villa, the RMA they conducted until in the early hours of Sunday show there are certain posts that had differing results from the manual and the automated count.

“Meron ding differences sa resulta na generated by PCOS. May slight differences in our RMA,” said de Villa in an interview.

In the RMA, she said they found differences in the votes of six senatorial candidates with one each; as well as with one mayor and one congressman.

Also, there were five over-votes and 147 under votes for senator, eight over-votes for congressmen, and five under votes for mayor as revealed in the RMA.

In the said mock polls at the UPIS, singer-actress Jennifer Lopez was found to be the top vote-getter with 77 votes, followed by fellow actress Cameron Diaz with 68 votes.

Other top vote getters for senator are Frank Allison (61 votes); Neil Armstrong (61); Michael Jackson (58); Tom Cruise (54); Michael Buble (50); Mariah Carey (49); Harrison Ford (48); and Sylvester Stallone (48).

On the other hand, top vote getters for the party-list race are Katipunan with 13; Aegis with 11; and Kabisayaan with 7.

The Comelec Education and Information Department (EID) noted that the nationwide results sourced from all the 20 identified voting centers in 10 areas around the country that simultaneously held the mock elections are not yet available.

De Villa said the difference could be attributed to the decision of the Comelec in its RMA General Instructions that ambiguous marks will still be counted in the auditing with notes, even though the PCOS machines will not be counting them.

“These will now be verified further by the Comelec as to where they can be attributed to,” said de Villa.

The RMA is the process required by the Poll Automation Law in order to check the accuracy of the results generated by the PCOS machines when compared to the manual reading of votes.

Last Saturday, mock polls were also held in Bagong Lipunan ng Crame (P. Bernardo High School) in Quezon City; fifth district of Manila (Epifanio delos Santos Elementary School and Herminigildo Atienza Elementary School); Iriga City (Iriga Central School and Sta. Teresita Elementary School), and the Municipality of Bato (Bato North Elementary School and Atipolo Elementary School), in Camarines Sur; Dumaguete City (City Central Elementary School and Camanjac Elementary School) and the Municipality of Sta. Catalina (Santa Catalina North Central School and Kabulacan Elementary School), in Negros Oriental; Cagayan de Oro City (City Central School and Balulang Elementary School) and the Municipality of Initao (Initao Central School and Oguis Elementary School), in Misamis Oriental; and the Municipalities of Bongao (Lamion Walking Blackboard Elementary School and Simandagit Elementary School) in Tawi Tawi; and Buluan (Pilot Elementary School and Talitay Elementary School) in Maguindanao.

The mock polls mimicked the entire voting process on Election beginning with the PCOS initialization up until the transmission of votes both directly to the Central Server at the Comelec PCOS warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna and at the Comelec main office in Manila, and through the step-by-step process from the precinct, to the municipal canvassing centers, to the provincial canvassing centers and eventually to the central/national server.

Meanwhile, Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez cited the problem of transmitting some of the results as one of their main concerns after the exercise.

“There should be a review of our signal mapping in order to validate if those indicated there are still accurate. We have to see it with our own eyes also. Who would think that in Katipunan (UPIS), we would find a hard time transmitting our results,” said the poll official in an interview.

Jimenez also said their findings showed that the contingency programs for transmission, such as the use of the Broadband Global Area Network or the very small aperture terminal, must always be ready. (HDT/Sunnex)