Friday, May 09, 2008
Comelec to sign deal for Armm election automation (11:40 a.m.)
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to sign a contract with a private technology provider company on Friday in a bid to automate the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) on August 11.
The contract for the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE), which will be utilized in Maguindanao, is scheduled to be signed by the officials of the election body and the Smartmatic Sahi Joint Venture (SSJV) at the Comelec Session Hall at the Palacio del Gobernador building in Intramuros, Manila.
DRE is a touch screen voting machine, where names of the candidates are displayed. To cast vote, the voter has to key in the name of the candidate of his choice on the screen and his vote automatically gets counted.
Meanwhile, the Comelec has yet to release a statement regarding the other technology, Optical Mark Reader (OMR), which will also be used in the rest of the Armm.
Two bidders -- Active Business Solutions Inc. (ABS) and Avante International (Avante) -- are still contesting for the OMR project.
Automating the Armm elections will be the determining factor of the Comelec if the country is ready to hold a computerized presidential election in 2010.
Armm, with about 1.7 million registered voters, is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan and Shariff Kabunsuan. (FP/MSN/Sunnex) |
