ARMM(ed) With Computers
- 2010 Elections, ARMM, Youth -
By Karla Angelica Pastores
Contributor
IT’S a step towards modernizing elections in the whole Philippines.
Yes, we’re talking about automation, as the Philippines made its debut into the modern world’s election process with the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) computerized elections last Monday.
The ARMM elections will serve as a prelude to what might possibly happen in 2010, the crucial time when we elect our next president. If this pilot test proves the notion that automation reduces the chances of dishonest acts, then preparations will then have to be made for 2010. On the other hand, if the elections will be judged as a failure, then more work should be done, at the cost of a “failed election” in ARMM. This, I believe, is not acceptable. But since we have yet to evaluate the polls, this is still an issue for future blogs.
Automated elections alone do not guarantee fraud-free polls. To the really corrupt people whose opportunities for dishonesty were lessened by the power of computerization, it presents a bigger obstacle to open new doors of cheating. Perhaps not surprisingly, last Monday’s polls were marked with irregularities noted by volunteers of different groups. Aside from apparent vote-buying, machine malfunction caused a delay in the voting in some parts of Maguindanao. The former is a sad reality that we need to correct; the latter is a new problem we have to be prepared for.
But I believe that automated elections will contribute more to the solution rather than to the problem. The problems of automation are easier to fix than the problems of some corrupt people with honest elections. Machines are more obedient to their manufacturers than other people are to their Creator, who is of course all for honesty. Filipinos are brilliant; we are not inept when it comes to technology, even though we may not be at the forefront of it.
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