IT TOOK more than a month to manually count and canvass the votes for presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2004 elections. It took more than two months to finish the counting and canvassing of votes for senatorial candidates in 2007.
In the May 2010 national elections, which will be automated, the Commission on Elections expects to reduce to just two the number of days for counting and canvassing of votes for national elective positions.
Besides speeding up the counting, poll automation is expected to do away with the various forms of cheating that characterized manual elections in the country. (See list below.)
However, some sectors fear that poll automation could lead to automated cheating. Preventing computerized cheating to ensure the integrity of election results next year is the big challenge that the Comelec faces. –Ed.
