Automated ARMM polls still iffy

THE Commission on Elections yesterday admitted that it still has to reach 100 percent certainty that the Aug. 11 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will be automated.

"We are really trying to get the ARMM election automated. We are now 90-95 percent confident that we can automate this. We just want to leave some (room for other possibilities)," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said.

Jimenez said that while they are currently conducting bidding operations for the project, two bidding failures could force the commission en banc to rethink the automation project. "Under this scenario, pwedeng mag-decide na ang en banc to just go back to manual (process) or look for a negotiated contract just for this ARMM automation," he said.

The project will involve the use of two technologies: the Direct Recording Electronic which allows voting through touch-screens, and the Optical Media Reader which will require voters to fill up ballots to be tabulated by special machines. Jimenez said the budget for this is P867,329,000.

He said bidding could fail on two aspects: the financial and the technical proposals.

He also said a lot of local and foreign companies have expressed interest in the project.

Jimenez said qualified but unregistered voters may enroll themselves in the voters' list from April 1 to 10.