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| Field testing of poll machines a success |
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By Bernice Camille V. Bauzon Field testing of devices that would be used in the May 2010 elections was a success, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported recently. Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were able to count and transmit votes during the field testing in key areas nationwide. The field testing was conducted by the poll body and the joint venture of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM). A field testing is the end-to-end testing of the PCOS machines from counting to transmission of votes. “We conducted field tests today in 10 areas. The transmission from Benguet was successful. The transmission from other mobile networks was successful [as well]. We are waiting for the transmission from Lake Sebu [in South Cotabato],” Larrazabal said. The field testing was conducted between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. in 10 polling precincts and nine canvassing centers in Benguet, Cebu, South Cotabato, Naga City (Camarines Sur) and Pateros town and Taguig City, both in Metro Manila. Public-school teachers, who will compose the Board of Election Inspectors on election day, were the ones who fed sample ballots to the PCOS machines. The machines were able to transmit vote results from clustered precincts to the city board of canvassers, the Comelec national server and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas. The transmission of the voting results only took about two minutes. Under the country’s first automated elections less than five months from now, voters will be able to know results of voting in less than 48 hours, instead of the usual one to two months under the manual system. The Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM recently performed laboratory testing on the PCOS machines to ensure that the devices can withstand the rigid environment of the country’s geography. The machines were tested under high temperature and humidity. There are 32,000 PCOS machines stored in the Comelec’s warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna. All 82,200 machines required by the elections are expected to arrive in the country before February 21. (manilatimes.net) |