ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM:

AN OPINION SURVEY AMONG MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY

SELECTED FACULTY MEMBERS

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the
Department of Islamic Studies
King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies
Mindanao State University
Marawi City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies
Major in Shariah

Mohammad Mojib D. Marangit

March 2014
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful,

First praise is to Allah, the Almighty, on whom ultimately we depend for

sustenance and guidance. Second, my sincere appreciation goes to my
adviser Dr. Monara Hamiydah M. Maruhom, whose guidance, careful
reading and constructive comments was valuable. Her timely and efficient
contribution helped me shape this into its final form and I express my sincerest
appreciation for her assistance in any way that I may have asked.

______________________________

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regard to my

panels, Dr. Asnawil G. Ronsing and Prof. Amena M. Macabero, for their
exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the
course of this thesis. The blessing, help and guidance given by them time to time
shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to embark.

____________________________________________________

Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional
support, both financially and emotionally throughout my degree. I am deeply and
forever indebted to them for their love, support and encouragement throughout
my entire life. I am also very grateful to my brothers and sisters for helping me to
the success of this undergraduate thesis.

__________________________________________________________________
__

mdm
 DEDICATION

Affectionately dedicated

To my parents,

Raisalam and Domiyangca Marangit,

To my family and friends,

To the Muslim Ummah.

mdm
 ABSTRACT

MARANGIT, MOHAMMAD MOJIB D. ADVANTAGES AND

DISADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM: AN OPINION
SURVEY AMONG MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY SELECTED FACULTY
MEMBERS, An Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Islamic Studies, King
Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies. Mindanao State
University, Marawi City, March 2014.

Adviser: Prof. Monara Hamiydah M. Maruhom, Ph.D.

This study is about the ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF

AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM: AN OPINION SURVEY AMONG MINDANAO

STATE UNIVERSITY SELECTED FACULTY MEMBERS. Specifically, it sought to

answer the following questions: what are the socio-economic profiles of

the selected parents as respondents in terms of age, gender, civil status,

educational attainment, occupation, monthly income; what are the

advantages and disadvantages of automated election system; and what are

the implications of the findings that can be drawn out of the study.
 The perception method was used in obtaining the needed data and

information. The statistical treatments used were Frequency and

Percentage Distribution.

Based from the data gathered, the following findings were obtained:

Majority of the respondents were belong to the age bracket 29-39 years

old, females, college graduates, were earning ranging from 20,001 to

30,000 monthly.

In addition, with regards to their views towards automated election

system: Majority of the respondents were able to vote in the automated

election last 2010 and 2013, were enthusiastic in voting through automated

election system, were efficient in the voting process in terms of ease, has

experienced a fast voting process during the election, were doubtful in the

accuracy of results after the canvass, and rated effective in the automated

election system.

Furthermore, it can also be concluded with regards to the

respondents top five (5) best chosen statements regarding the advantages

of automated election system, majority of the respondents selected these

five (5) statements: Easy and Fast Voting, Secure storage of votes.,
Low cost and without wasting paper, Printing copies of preliminary

voters list. and Ten (10%) of the respondents chose the statement

Identifying duplicate registrations.

Moreover, with regards to the respondents top five (5) best chosen

statements regarding the disadvantages of automated election system,

majority of the respondents selected these five (5) statements Lack of

privacy in voting., Overcrowding on clustered precincts., Lack of proper

orientation, Noisy Environment and Faulty Equipment.

 Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Rationale

The Name of Allah

The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, blessings and peace be

upon the leader of the Prophets and Messengers, our Prophet Mohammad,

his family, his companions and everyone who follows on their footsteps

until the day of resurrection.

To proceed:

Allah s.w.t is the creator of mankind and therefore knows his nature

more intricately than mankind himself. Allah s.w.t, has therefore chosen for

us a religion best suited to the nature of mankind, a religion that goes

neither to the extremes of hardship nor of laxity, but instead provides a

middle path; in other words, a religion of ease. Allah s.w.t says in Surah Al-

Baqarah, Ayah 185:

Allah intends for you ease, and
He does not want to make things difficult for you.
 The concept of elections and suffrage are one of the fundamental

principles in every democratic nation in the world. From the time of

Ancient Greeks, people have fought tyranny for the right to choose their

own leaders. The concept of a free and fair election thus made democracy

one of the most powerful political philosophies in the world today.

In the international sphere, there is no specific and standard

definition of what free and fair democratic election meant. The

International Law by necessary implications is only trying to lay down a

guide and qualities of free and fair democratic election should be and what

it should not be, the other aspect of the law tries to emphasize the

relevance and legality in the right to democracy under Customary

International Law.

According to Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,

directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of

equal access to public service in his country. And the will of people shall be

the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic

and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and

shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of
the electors to have access, or general terms of equality, to public service in

his country or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Since the beginning of elections in the Philippines, the electoral

process has been generally characterized by irregularities such as fraud,

terrorism, violence, vote-buying, ballot snatching, bribery, cheating and the

like. These do not reflect the true will of the Filipino People, thus a gross

violation of the right to suffrage. This affects the credibility of the whole

democratic process and mocks at the sacred right to suffrage.

Another problem with regards to the electoral system of the

Philippines is its traditional way of writing the name of their chosen

candidate in an ordinary piece of paper. It has always been a burden for

canvassers to do the counting of votes and the long process has been the

cause of countless election fraud. One of the burdens of the manual system

is its slow results because the counting of votes is performed manually. It is

also the reason why many candidates are appealing to the Commission on

Elections (COMELEC) and to the court that they have been cheated during

the counting. Manual voting system gave rise to the fraudulent election

practices like tampering of election returns and statements of votes. After

each election, the Comelec and courts are flooded with complaints of

election fraud.

Through automation a credible transition of power as well as a clean,

honest and orderly election can be ensured. Setting up the countrys

automated and electoral system is a crucial step towards clean and honest

election. While it will not be a cure-all for the countrys electoral problems,

automating the polls will eliminate a lot of the human intervention and that

has made vote-rigging possible.

The integration of our traditional elections was considered successful

to some and failure to others. According to National Citizens Movement

for Free Elections, overall, the machine had 99.35-percent accuracy, which

is below the required 99.995 percent. There were also other problems such

as election returns with wrong time and date stamps, the lack of digital

signatures, and the incomplete inventory of the voting machines and the

compact flash cards. These problems can prove fatal to the credibility of

new election system.

In light with these issues and the current arguments and positions

made by various experts today, the researcher finds this study to be

relevant and of great significance in pursuance to an honest and clean

election exercise in the Philippines. Through evaluation of the advantages

and disadvantages, this paper aims to assess the outcome of the elections

through feedback from the voters which shall be analyzed systematically

through a series of guide questions that will lead the study towards an

improved and more credible automated election system.

Theoretical Framework

The rulings of Islamic Law must be derived from the Qurn and

Sunnah. The idea of ease and moderation in no way implies a relaxation of

Islamic Law, nor does it imply that a person can follow his own inclinations

in either his religion or his general dealings. Therefore, if we lose sight of

Islamic Law and its rulings, an important quality of moderation will

invariably be lost. The scholars of Islam have agreed that the general

principle regarding things of this world is that everything is permissible

unless proven otherwise. So the burden of proof actually falls on those who

say that anything is prohibited. Imam Ahmad recorded Anas bin Malik

saying that Allah's Messenger said:

Treat the people with ease and don't be hard on them;
give them glad tidings and don't fill them with aversion.
 This Hadith was also collected in the Two Sahihs. It is reported in the

Sahihayn that Allah's Messenger said to Mu`adh and Abu Musa when he

sent them to Yemen:

Treat the people with ease and don't be hard on them; give them
glad tidings and don't fill them with aversion; and love each other,
and don't differ.

The conduct of elections in the Philippines for the past four decades

has remained largely unchanged. Philippine elections rely heavily on

manual tallying and canvassing of votes thus making them vulnerable to

control and manipulation by traditional politicians and those with vested

interests. The cost of winning an elective post is highly expensive and the

absence of mechanisms to check and limit sources of campaign funds

become fertile grounds for corruption and divisiveness.

Honesty incorporates the concepts of truthfulness and reliability and

it resides in all human thought, words, actions and relationships. It is more

than just accuracy; it is more than just truthfulness, it denotes integrity or

moral soundness. Islam commands truthfulness and forbids lying. God

commands that a Muslim be honest.

 Allah s.w.t says in Surah Tawbah, Ayah 119:

O you who believe! Have Taqwa of Allah, and be with
those who are true (in words and deeds).

Ibn Katheer, the renowned Quran scholar, explained the meaning of

this verse. He said, Being truthful and adhering to truthfulness, means you

will be among the people of the truth and be saved from calamity and that

it will make a way out for you from your problems.

A true believer, one who is truly submitted to God, has many

characteristics by which he can be identified. The most obvious of these

noble characteristics are honesty of character and truthfulness of speech.

Prophet Mohammad was a perfect example of honesty. Even before his

Prophethood, he had earned the titles of Al Amin (the trustworthy one) and

As Sadiq (the truthful).

In recent years, initiatives to reform the electoral system included

the enactment of the following laws: Republic Act (RA) 8046, establishing a

pilot program modernizing the registration and vote counting process in

the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Party List Law, Fair
Elections Act and the Absentee Voting Act. To address the inadequacies and

limitations of the electoral process, RA 8436 or the Election Automation Act

of 1997, was passed authorizing the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to

use automated election system for vote counting and canvassing in the

national and local polls. The law provided for the generation of a national

computerized voters list, establishment of a voters identification card

system and the automation of the vote counting.

To ensure a credible and transparent electoral process, the

modernization of the electoral system through automation shall be

supported to ensure the credibility of polls and correct the deficiencies in

the electoral system. Likewise, the Omnibus Election Code shall be further

revised and amended to respond to the needs of the present electoral

system. Measures to strengthen the party system and regulate the

activities of political parties shall be created. State financing of political

parties shall also be considered through the passage of the Campaign

Finance Bill.

In pursuit to mans quest for harmony and progression, the

Automated Elections Law was passed in order to provide the state free,
orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections, plebiscites,

referenda, recall and other similar electoral exercises by improving on the

election process and adopting system that will ensure the secrecy and

sanctity of the ballot and all election, consolidation and transmission

documents on order that the process shall be transparent and credible and

that the results shall be fast, accurate and reflective of the genuine will of

the people (Philippine Congress, 1997).

Using this principle as basis for the study, this research aims to

pursue a higher stage of development through analyzing the automated

elections system by its current state, evaluating various factors and

problems of the new system and opening doors of improvement. As stated

in the Automated Elections Law, the state shall provide a free, honest and

orderly system of elections. These shall be achieved by further developing

the system and gear it towards change and improvement. This study aims

to fill these purposes through assessment and arrival at a more improved

election system in order to justify a credible election system in the

Philippines.
Conceptual Framework

Figure 1.A Schematic Diagram Showing the Conceptual Framework of the Study
 The paradigm illustrates the conceptual framework of the study. The

basis for assessing and analyzing the automated election system in the

Philippines is to provide an in-depth analysis of the advantages and

disadvantages of automated election that arise every election.

The procedure involves describing the nature of the Current

Automated Election System, its advantages and benefits which serves as

input along with the disadvantages and problems of the system from the

feedback of respondent. After the collection of data, the process weighs

the different factors of automated election system. These implications

open doors for the improvement of the system.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to identify the advantages and disadvantages of

automated election system in the Philippines. It is conducted to assess the

implications of the automated national and local election in the country.

Specifically, the study attempts to answer the following questions:

1. What is the socio-economic profile of the respondent in terms of?

1.1 Gender

1.2 Age

1.3 Civil Status

1.4 Educational Attainment

1.5 Monthly Income

2. What is the law underlying the automated national and local

election system in the Philippines?

3. What are the benefits and advantages of Automated Election

System?

4. What are the problems and disadvantages of Automated Election

System?

5. What implications can be drawn from the findings of the study?

Null Hypothesis

Ho: Every election in the Philippines was seemed to be dirty and

bloody. The kind of election we dont want to, for it is now the time to

change the level of voting in our country. Automated Election could be a

turning point for the country to be successful in many elections to come.

Significance of the Study

The findings that this study would generate are beneficial to the

following:

Students. The content in this study can be used as basis for their

future researches and studies. The outcome of the study can be used as

reference to similar studies with regards to the election system in the

Philippines.

Commission on Elections. The results of the study especially the

problems and the solutions suggested can help guide the commission for

improvement and future modification of the existing electoral system. The

commission will also be informed of the feedback by the voting public to

the different policies that they establish.

 Law Makers. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for policy

development especially with regards to modernization and the election

system. The implications in the study can also open doors for improvement

of other government services such as electronic governance.

General Public. This study may not only represent the feedback of

the electorate government but it will also raise awareness on the

advantages and disadvantages of the automated elections. It may also

encourage active participation by the people on other activities by the

government.

Future Researches. The findings of this study as reference material

and source of information for future researchers for any paper works

relating to this topic.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study will be conducted to determine the advantages and

disadvantages of Automated Election as perceived by the Commission on

Elections and by voters employed in the Mindanao State University Main

Campus. The aspects will be looked into are the nature of an automated

election, its benefits and advantages, the disadvantages and the problems
encountered in the previous national and local automated elections, and

the feedback from the voting public.

The respondents will be selected faculty of the Mindanao State

University who has voted during the National and Local Automated

Elections. The data needed will be taken from the survey from the selected

respondents and by the help of related literature. Therefore, the researcher

forthrightly acknowledges that it is isolated from excellence and

remarkable.

Definition of Terms

The definition of terms presents the different technical terms that

will be used in the study and their operational definition.

Automated Election System is a system using appropriate

technology which has been demonstrated in voting, counting,

consolidating, canvassing, and transmission of election result and other

electoral process.
 Manual Election System is a system that involves the traditional

pen and paper way of voting, counting, canvassing, and transmitting the

election results and other electoral process.

Commission on Election is a constitutional commission vested with

the exclusive charge of enforcing all laws relative to elections and the

power to decide all questions affective elections.

Counting Machine is a machine that uses an optical scanning/mark-

sense reading device or any similar advanced technology to count ballots.

Data Storage Device is a device that used to electronically store

counting and canvassing results, such as a compact flash card.

Board of Election Inspectors is a special body organized by the

Comelec tasked three (3) regular members to conduct the voting, counting

and recording of votes in the polling place.

Election Returns is a machine-generated document showing the

date of the election, the province, municipality, and the precinct in which it

is held and the votes in figures for each candidate in a precinct directly

produced by counting machine.

 Statement of Votes is a machine-generated document containing

the votes obtained by candidates in each precinct in a city/municipality.

Counting Center is a public place designated by the Commission

where counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation of results shall be

conducted.

City/Municipal/Provincial Certificate of Canvass of Votes is a

machine-generated document containing the total votes in figures obtained

by each candidate in a city/municipality/province as the case may be; and

Faculty of Mindanao State University are registered voters who

have participated in the 2010 and 2013 National and Local Automated

Elections.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter is a presentation of related literature and studies which

provided direction in the conduct of the study.

Related Literature

Living in a democratic country, the very subject of our government is

its citizens. Panganiban (2009) stressed that the citizens role is not to

substitute for and do what our officials should be doing. The citizens job is

to perform oversight functions, that is, to demand that only the most

qualified are elected or appointed, and then to insist that these public

officials perform their duties ethically, courageously and competently.

Otherwise, if these officials cannot or would not do their jobs properly, the

citizens should ask for their resignation, impeachment or dismissal and

their replacement by the ethical, the courageous and the competent.

That is why according to Article V of the Philippine Constitution, the

right to suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines who are

not disqualified by law and who are at least eighteen years of age and have

resided in the country for at least one year in the place where they plan to
vote at least six months preceding the elections. No literacy, property, or

other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.

Furthermore, the provision goes on that The Congress shall provide a

system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot as well as a

system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad. The Congress shall

also design a procedure for the disabled and the illiterates to vote without

the assistance of other persons. Until then, they shall be allowed to vote

under existing laws and such rules as the Commission on Elections may

promulgate to protect the secrecy of the ballot.

Suffrage as conferred by the constitutional provision is not a natural

right of the citizens, but a political right intended to enable them to

participate in the process of government to assure it derives its powers

from the consent of the governed. Both international and domestic laws

protect and guarantee its effective exercise by the people so that their

sovereign will can be manifested.

According to Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,

directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of

equal access to public service in his country. And the will of the people shall

be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in

periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal

suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting

procedures.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also

underscores that every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity to

take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely choose

representative, to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections

which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret

ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors and to

have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.

As envisioned under international and domestic laws, the

Commission on Human Rights (2004) sees to it that the sovereign will of the

people should win in an election. It is this will to participate in the election

of officials that determines the kind of democratic government that will

eventually be established. It is by reason of the votes to cast that duly

elected candidates may assume the office they wish to hold. The right to
suffrage is one prized right. Election Day is one instance when in one day

ALL becomes equal before the law regardless of sex, religious, political

and other beliefs, property, racial background, status, literacy and

education. This is the time when everyone, and each one, participates in

equal share and weight, that is, with one vote. The right to suffrage is the

spirit and essence of democracy and republicanism. In a country with a

government of the people, by the people and for the people, election

becomes so vital and momentous that it gives life to the government itself.

History of Automated Election System

As early as 1992, the Commission of Elections (Comelec) has

identified the modernization of the electoral process as a goal of what was

called Operation Modex (Modex for Modernization and Excellence). In

the following year, Comelec commissioned foreign consultants conduct

studies on modernizing the elections in the Philippines. Several Comelec

Officials also travelled to United States of America to inspect the voting

system there. The change in administration in Comelec led to a repeat

process of public bidding, and another supplier was chosen to provide the

equipment that was later used in the pilot-testing of the new system in the
1996 ARMM Elections. The new equipment consisted of machines with

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) capacities in scanning and tallying

computerized ballots. Comelec personnel and ARMM field officials were

trained to handle the whole electoral process. Results were just 48 to 72

hours after the Election Day.

In 1997, RA 8436 was passed into law, authorizing Comelec to

implement an automated system in the May 1998 elections, and in

subsequent national and local elections. However, lack of preparation,

time and funding led to the use of the automated process only in Lanao

del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi in the 1998 elections. In 2001,

the COMELECs failure to launch a public education campaign on the new

election process led to the unintended exclusion of an estimated 3 to 6

million voters (Schaffer, 2009).

By 2003, Comelec had started to build a centralized computer

database of all registered voters, including digital photos, fingerprints, and

signatures. With $18 M worth of newly purchased data-capturing

machines, the poll body had asked all registered voters to have their

registration validated in order to purge the voters list of ineligible,

fictitious, and double voters (Schaffer, 2009).

 However, the scheme of validating the voters registrations crashed

because the software used in the old voters list turned out to be

incompatible with that of the new list. Many names disappeared when the

two lists were merged. With the May 2004 elections fast approaching and a

solution not in view, COMELEC hastily instructed their field officers to just

use their own records. The use of an automated system in counting the

votes was also stopped due to controversies of electoral fraud.

In 2007, RA 9369, amending RA 8436, was passed to encourage

transparency, credibility, fairness, and accuracy of elections. An

automated electoral process on a nationwide scale was first enforced in the

2010 elections, which brought President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III to

power. The multinational company, Smartmatic, was chosen to supply the

hardware and software for electronic voting. A few weeks before the

elections, the memory chips of the vote counting machines were found to

be faulty, and candidates like former President Joseph Estrada petitioned to

postpone the elections and revert to manual polls. Elections pushed

through as scheduled, however, because all technical problems were

deemed to have been addressed. Four hundred sixty-five vote counting

machines were reported as malfunctioned, but 75,882 machines worked

smoothly. Compared to past elections where the winners were known after

weeks or months, local winners were determined in a few hours, while half

of the national winners were known after a day. As Rep. Raymond Palatino

wrote, Most people are satisfied with the election process and the voting

results. Foreign media and world leaders have already congratulated the

Philippines for the successful conduct of its first automated elections. The

second nationwide automated elections had taken place last May 13, 2013.

Elections in the Philippines

Since the inception of elections in the country, the electoral process

has been generally characterized by irregularities such as fraud, terrorism,

violence, vote-buying, ballot snatching, bribery, cheating, and the like.

These do not reflect the true will of the Filipino people, thus, a gross

violation of the right to suffrage. According to the Commission on Human

Rights Advisory (2004), all these infringe on the right of Filipinos to self-

determination. The Philippines has been both a witness and victim to the

problematic, perverted and violent exercise of elections in the country. It

affects the credibility of the whole democratic process and mocks at this

sacred right to suffrage.

 In the midst of clamors for clean, honest, orderly, credible and

genuine elections, the will of the voting Filipinos should be exercised freely,

safely and intelligently, whether inside or outside the voting precincts.

There is much to be done in these respect and instrumentalities of

government, particularly the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), the

Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines

(AFP) must play their critical roles, as duty holders, for the full and free

exercise of the right to suffrage by all Filipino voters. The observance of

these international and national standards on the roles of both the

government instrumentalities as duty holders and the Filipino electorate as

claim holders in the exercise of the right to suffrage shall ensure that the

sovereign will of the Filipino people is truly and effectively manifested in

electoral exercises. To the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines,

winning in an election does not stop when the duly elected candidates shall

have officially taken their respective oath of office. Winning the election is

the effective governance within the tenure of the elected and the quality of

public service. The right to suffrage, therefore, is not limited to the

outcome of the electoral process. In short, the electoral process is crucial

for the Filipinos to come out victorious in the process of governance of the

elected (Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, 2004).

With regard to the process of voting, Lordzden (2010) describes how

the Filipinos voted through the traditional way of writing the name of their

chosen candidate in an ordinary piece of paper. It has always been a

burden for canvassers to do the counting of votes and the long process has

been the cause of countless election fraud. One of the burdens of the

manual system is its slow results because the counting of votes is just

performed manually. It is also the reason why many candidates are

appealing to the Comelec and to the court that they have been cheated

during the counting. Due to this, they would try to file a recount of votes.

Second, is that many cruel candidates are making deal with some Board of

canvassers who are primarily composed of teachers to manipulate the

results. In addition, some of the politicians are also making deal with

electric companies, to shut down the power during canvassing so thats the

time where they can have the opportunity to change the votes and cheat in

the election. Manual voting system gave rise to fraudulent election

practices like tampering of election returns and statements of votes. After

each election, the Comelec and courts are flooded with complaints of

election fraud.

Related Studies

In order to pursue a secure and honest election, it is the function of

the government to provide the people the means to a credible system of

election. Zerna (2009) defines manual election as a system that counts

votes using paper audits stored by a ballot box. In addition, manual election

usually takes a long time before proclaiming the winning candidate. It is a

time consuming system, for it takes more than a month before the results

are transmitted to the COMELEC. Computerized election systems however,

count votes using electronic devices such as computers. Unlike manual

election, computerized election is easy and fast for the transmission of

results is done by computers. In addition, computerized election usually

takes a short period of time before proclaiming the winning candidate.

In preparation of a nationwide automated system, a pilot

testing is required by law to be implemented on at least two highly

urbanized cities and two provinces each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in

the 2007 elections. However, time constraints made it impossible to

implement theproject. Hence, upon recommendation of the CAC, the plan

to automate the 2007elections was abandoned.

CAC Resolution dated July 12, 2007 opened the possibility of using an

AES in the 2008 ARMM Elections. Two different kinds of technologies were

deployed by COMELEC for the ARMM Elections, the Direct Recording

Electronic or DRE and the Optical Mark Reader or OMR. The DRE provided

by Smartmatic, uses a touch pad device where voters simply select their

choice of candidates by touching selected areas of the touchpad. The DRE

technology was deployed in the entire province of Maguindanao. On the

other hand, the OMR provided by Avante International Technology Inc.,

uses paper ballots which contain the names of the candidates and the

different races being contested where voters shade or mark the circles

corresponding to the names of the candidates they choose to vote for. This

technology was deployed in the areas of Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan,

Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Marawi City. Successfully used in the 2008

ARMM Elections was the canvassing and consolidation system developed

by Smartmatic and procured by the COMELEC. This system combined or

merged the two partial results from both systems in order to arrive at the

national winners. These elections results were transmitted from the

precinct level for the DRE and from counting centers for the OMR up to the

national data center in COMELEC's head office in Intramuros (Comelec

Advisory Council, 2008).

In its own evaluation of the ARMM automated elections in August

2008, the Comelec Advisory Council (October 2008 report) found at least 23

common errors and other deficiencies in connection with the use of OMR,

as well as the Digital Recording Electronic (DRE). Among the problems

documented with the OMR are:

Votes shaded in the OMR ballot were exposed to tampering;

Unscrupulous erasures;

The distribution of the official OMR ballots was exposed to the

threat of advance shading;

The attached full 196-key Keyboard in the ACM is open to

programming intrusion;

Scratches and smudges of the ballots hampered their optical

scanning or led to their rejection thus slowing down the counting;

The folding and unfolding of OMR ballots resulted in delays;

 Constant paper jamming of the OMR ballots;

Lack of training (or deliberate errors) of BEI officials as shown in the

tearing off of the bar codes resulting in their rejection by the OMR

machine;

Lack of procedural knowledge on the part of the BEIs particularly

on the disposition of invalid ballots and other problems;

Discrepancies in the number of actual voters and number of ballots

being counted;

Several incidents where the system would not close the counting

and canvassing after showing that it did not count 100% of the total votes

from all the precinct when in fact all precincts counted all the votes;

Some systems, including laptops and printers, overheated and

stopped functioning;

Malfunctioning of data communication infrastructure or total

transmission failures that compromised the integrity and security of the

AES; and

Constant paper jamming of the OMR ballots

 These problems can prove fatal in showcasing the credibility of an

Automated Election System. It is of this reason that an assessment to the

national automated election system is in order to track the same problems

what arouse in the August 2008 ARMM automated Elections.

The following are the technical project specifications of the

Commission on Elections regarding the recently held automated election

system. These data shall be relevant in providing the actual processes that

were taken during the National and Local Elections in the Philippines.

COMPONENT 1
PAPER-BASED AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM (AES)

Component 1-A
Election Management System (EMS)

1. The system shall have an integrated election management system (EMS) which shall be:
A. Capable of creating pre-election configuration data by direct entry and by
importing these data from mySQL format, mdb format, or csv format, into the
EMS, such as:
i. Voting jurisdictions (provinces, legislative districts, provincial districts,
councilor districts, cities/municipalities, barangays, precincts)
ii. Number of registered voters per precinct;
iii. Elective positions and number of seats to be voted for;
iv. Candidates information (full name, nickname/stage name, elective
position, political party affiliation, jurisdiction where he intends to run;
v. Title and date of elections;
 B. Capable of automatically generating the ballot faces to be used in printing the
official ballots;
C. Able to handle configurations for different types of electoral exercises both for
the PCOS and the CCS, such as:
i. National and Local Elections;
ii. ARMM Regional Elections;
iii. Plebiscites;
iv. Initiatives;
v. Recall elections;
vi. Special elections.
D. Capable of maintaining an immutable audit log, which shall include, among
others:
i. All user activities;
User ID;
Actual date and time stamps; and
Specific action taken;
ii. All system messages (including error messages);
E. customizable in accordance with the requirements of this RFP;
2. The system shall require authorization and authentication of all users, such as, but not
limited to, usernames and passwords, with multiple user access levels.
3. The system shall make use of a graphical user interface, including, but not limited to,
screen prompts, error messages and help screens.

Component 1-B
Precinct-Count Optical Scan (PCOS)

1. The system shall allow manual feeding of a ballot into the PCOS machine.
2. The system shall be capable of scanning a ballot sheet at the speed of at least 2.75
inches per second.
3. The system shall be able to capture and store in an encrypted format the digital images
of the ballot for at least 2,000 ballot sides (1,000 ballots, with back-to-back printing).
4. The system shall be a fully integrated single device. The printing and transmission
functionalities may or may not be integrated into the system.
5. The system shall have a scanning resolution of at least 200 dpi.
6. The system shall scan in grayscale.
7. The system shall require authorization and authentication of all operators, such as, but
not limited to, usernames and passwords, with multiple user access levels.
8. The system shall have an electronic display indicating the acceptance or rejection of a
ballot.
9. The system shall employ error handling procedures, including, but not limited to, the
use of error prompts and other related instructions.
10. The system shall count the voters vote as marked on the ballot with an accuracy rating
of at least 99.995 %.
11. The system shall not count ballots more than the specified number of registered voters,
inclusive of the number of BEI members and support staff for every precinct/clustered
precinct.
12. The system shall only count ballots intended for the city/municipality/councilor district
for which it has been configured.
13. In case of over-voting for a position, the system shall not credit any vote for any
candidate for the affected position. The rest of the votes for the unaffected positions
shall be counted.
14. The system shall allow under-voting or no vote in any positions to be voted for.
15. The system shall be able to detect and reject fake or spurious, and previouslyscanned
ballots.
16. The system shall be able to scan both sides of a ballot and in any orientation in one pass.
17. The system shall have necessary safeguards to determine the authenticity of a ballot,
such as, but not limited to, the use of bar codes, holograms, color shifting ink, micro
printing, to be provided on the ballot and which can be recognized by the system.
18. The ballot design and layout shall be as specified by COMELEC.
19. The required features of the ballot are:
A. Names of the candidates shall be pre-printed on the ballot.
B. Only one ballot sheet per voter shall be used to accommodate all the names of
the candidates for all elective positions.
 i. Both sides of the ballot sheet may be utilized.
ii. Each side of the ballot sheet shall be able to accommodate at least 300
names of candidates with a minimum font size of 10, in addition to
other mandatory information required by law.
C. The ballot paper shall be of such quality as to prevent markings on one side of
the ballot to bleed through to the other side.
D. Ballots shall have an Arabic translation of the titles of the offices to be voted for,
in addition to and immediately below the English title, in areas where Arabic is
of general use.
E. There shall be as many ballot faces as there are cities/municipalities and
districts for the NLE.
20. The system shall be able to recognize the following marks on the appropriate space on
the ballot opposite the name of the candidate to be voted for:
A. full shade;
B. partial shade;
C. check marks;
D. x marks.
21. The system shall be able to recognize both pencil and ink marks.
22. The system shall, before transmission, require the electronic authentication and
certification of the election returns through a secure mechanism by at least two BEI
members.
23. The system shall transmit digitally signed and encrypted election results and reports
enabled by public/private key cryptography to provide authenticity, integrity and non-
repudiation utilizing at least 128-bit encryption scheme.
A. The system shall have the ability to transmit the precinct results to the following
destinations:
i. city/municipal BOC;
ii. provincial BOC;
iii. NBOCs of COMELEC and Congress;
iv. Dominant majority party, Dominant minority party, Accredited citizens
arm, KBP; and
v. Central server:
24. The system shall generate a backup copy of the digitally signed and encrypted ER,
including all generated reports, in a removable data storage device.
25. The system shall have alternative power sources, such as batteries, inverters or power
generators, which will enable it to fully operate for at least 12 hours.
26. The system shall, immediately before the start of the voting/counting, require that its
vote counters be zeroed out using administrator and operator access levels, and shall
generate and print an initialization report showing that no votes have been
cast/counted. The system shall not start unless the initialization report has been
generated.
27. The system shall be able to generate and print the ER, statistical report and audit log for
the precinct in the COMELEC-specified formats, both in soft and hard copies.
A. The statistical report shall contain the following information, among others:
i. Demographic information for the precinct (Province, City/municipality,
barangay name, precinct number or clustered precinct name with the
individual precinct numbers);
ii. Number of registered voters for the precinct; and
iii. Number of voters who actually voted in the precinct by gender and age
group.

The final design of all required statistical reports shall be provided by the
COMELEC within the period specified for Systems Customization/Development.

B. The audit log shall record the following, among others:

i. Machine ID;
ii. Voting jurisdiction;
iii. All user-generated activities, indicating:
User ID;
Actual date and time stamps; and
Specific action taken
C. Transmission logs, including:
User ID;
Date/time each transmission started and ended (with the size and name
of the transmitted file, such as precinct result);
 Date/time transmitted result was received at remote station;
D. All system messages (including error messages);
28. The system shall have error recovery features.
29. In compliance with RA 9369, the system must have demonstrated capability and been
successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad, with a written certification
to that fact from the election authority of the client country/state/province.
30. The system shall ensure that the printed election results and other reports shall remain
legible for at least 5 years.
31. All related requirements by the system which are needed to make it fully operational
during the entire duration of the project shall be included in the proposal/offer,
including the software and hardware, back-up power supply, external data storage
devices, ballot marking pens and other supplies, printers and other equipment, services,
and consumables.
32. The system shall be customizable in accordance with the requirements of this RFP.
33. The design and functionality of the system shall still be subject to final customization
requirements by the COMELEC.

Component 1-C
Consolidation/Canvassing System (CCS)

1. The consolidation/canvassing system (CCS) shall be secure, fast, accurate, reliable and
auditable, and able to:
A. Monitor, detect, record and secure itself against intrusion and/or unauthorized
access and recognize its authorized users with the use of physical security
devices, such as USB flash drives or PCMCIA cards, with digital certificates, aside
from the use of user IDs and passwords;
B. Use the electronically transmitted results or the results as contained in the
backup data storage device as input for processing;
C. Decrypt and authenticate the transmitted encrypted election results prior to
consolidation/canvassing;
D. Detect previously-loaded election results and prevent these from being input
again into the system;
E. Restart and resume the operation without any loss of data in the event of an
abnormal termination of the system;
F. Provide real-time updates broken down by voting jurisdictions on:
i. Number of precincts, cities/municipalities and provinces reported
against total number of precincts, cities/municipalities and provinces
and percentage thereof;
ii. Number of registered voters represented in precincts,
cities/municipalities and provinces received against total number of
registered voters, and percentage thereof;
iii. Number of voters who actually voted in precincts, cities/municipalities
and provinces received against total number of registered voters, and
percentage thereof;
iv. Number of votes obtained by each candidate for all positions.
G. Make use of a graphical user interface, including, but not limited to, the use of
screen prompts, error messages and help screens;
H. Consolidate/canvass and generate reports:
i. for the city/municipal BOC, using precinct results;
ii. for provincial/district BOC, using consolidated city/municipal results;
iii. for COMELEC sitting as the national BOC for Senators/Party-list, using
consolidated provincial/city results;
iv. for Congress sitting as the national BOC for President/Vice-President,
using consolidated provincial/city results.
I. Allow election results to be received for consolidation/canvassing only after the
vote counters have been initially zeroed out and an initialization report has
been printed;
J. Allow the BOCs to end the actual consolidation/canvassing process for each
canvassing level and generate final canvassing results only when all expected
results have come in and when the previous canvassing level has already been
completed;
K. Accurately consolidate results from all expected precincts / cities /
municipalities / provinces according to the different jurisdictions of each BOC;
 L. Allow the BOCs to digitally sign all electronic results and reports before
transmission;
M. Encrypt the digitally signed results and transmit the same to the next upper
level of canvassing and to the central server;
N. Generate and print the following, using 8-ply TSF, in a format to be specified by
COMELEC:
i. Initialization Report prior to the conduct of the actual canvass operation
showing that no vote has been credited in favor of any candidate;
ii. COC with supporting SOV, and COCP when applicable;
iii. Immutable audit log report; and
iv. Statistical report;
O. Reconfigurable for use in other electoral exercises by the COMELEC;
P. Provide for a public website for real-time publication of canvassing results based
on the electronically transmitted precinct results, including services for web
design, development and hosting;
2. The system shall include a secure redundant/back-up site, which shall be at least 10 km
from the main site, or an equivalent contingency plan subject to approval by COMELEC.
3. All related requirements by the system which are needed to make it fully operational
during the entire duration of the project shall be included in the proposal/offer, such as
but not limited to required software, servers, canvassing units, other related hardware,
back-up power supply, external data storage devices and other supplies, printers and
other equipment, services, and consumables.
A. The bidder shall include in its offer the hardware and software for the
consolidation server that shall be able to accommodate all the requirements of
the COMELEC as specified in this RFP.
B. The bidder shall propose the hardware needed for the canvassing units by the
BOCs.
i. All hardware shall have 3 years warranty (parts and service), if
purchased.
C. The minimum specifications for the dot-matrix printer to be used by the
canvassing units for the BOCs shall be:
i. 500 cps high speed draft;
 ii. 8-ply TSF paper handling;
iii. Automatic paper forms handling;
iv. Standard parallel interface connectivity;
v. 9 pins printhead;
vi. 136 columns;
vii. 128 KB memory;
viii. 200 million characters printhead life;
ix. 4 million characters ribbon life;
x. 20,000 hours MTBF;
xi. 3 years warranty (parts and service) , if purchased;
D. UPS:
i. 650 VA output power capacity;
ii. 15 minutes typical backup time at half load;
iii. 3 years warranty (parts and service) , if purchased;
4. The system shall be customizable in accordance with the requirements of this RFP.
5. The design and functionality of the system shall still be subject to final customization
requirements by the COMELEC.

COMPONENT 2
PROVISION FOR ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
USING PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS

1. The service shall provide all the transmission requirements of the system.
2. The service shall have a designed availability of >99%.
3. The service shall be available from 3:00 PM on Election Day to 3:00 PM the following
day or until all election results have been transmitted.
4. The service shall cover 100% of all clustered precincts covered by this RFP.
5. The service may utilize wireless, wired or satellite-based connection, or a combination
thereof.
6. All related requirements by the service which are needed to make it fully operational for
the duration of the project shall be included in the proposal/offer, including the
software and hardware.
 COMPONENT 3
OVERALL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A. SERVICES

The scope of work is to assist the COMELEC in ensuring the successful implementation of the
Project.
The project management services component of the 2010 National and Local Elections
Automation Project shall include:

1. Project management, including team organization and implementation schedule;

2. Physical site design, preparation and operationalization;
3. Quality control and assurance;
4. Change management, including voter education and training;
5. Risk management and contingency planning
6. Configuration management

The following subsections outline the requirements of COMELEC from the bidders in the
preparation of their proposed solutions for the delivery of such services.

1. Project Management

The COMELEC recognizes the diversity of services and technologies that shall be
integrated in the implementation of the Project. Corollary, the bidders must
demonstrate a clear understanding of the depth and breadth of the scope of work to be
integrated and the criteria for evaluating these services and technologies.
Bidders must describe its proposed solution to include:

A. Demonstrable ability in the management of diverse services and

technologies

This will require a project management approach with successful large

systems integration experience. The various teams participating within
the project must be integrated to achieve their outputs in a coordinated
 and timely fashion. Bidders must describe clearly their approach to
systems integration for the successful implementation of the Project.

B. Dedicated and competent project management teams

Project management requires multi-faceted skill and talent, embracing

people, processes and organization.

i. Bidders must describe the role of the Project Director, the

Technical Coordinator and the Project Team Leaders in various
disciplines. The Project Director is required to have
authoritative credentials to lead various teams for the various
components of the Project. On the other hand, the Team
Leaders are required to have the ability to plan and lead
managerially and technically in their respective disciplines.
ii. The Bidders Project Management Team must be able to show
their ability to interact with COMELEC leadership and the
counterpart COMELEC-PMO team in an atmosphere of learning
that is enriching each others knowledge and experiences.
iii. Bidders must describe the team they are proposing, including
the actual number of staff members, the time each staffer will
dedicate to the project, and outline of terms of reference for
these positions. This team must be provided until the end of the
Project.
iv. Bidders must provide resumes of its management team
nominated for the Project on the basis of which the nominees
will be evaluated.

The bidders must describe the project organization to be established

during the life of the project and the reporting and working
relationships between the project teams and the COMELEC. It is
important to describe how they will manage the services to be
provided. In this connection, the bidders are required to submit a work
 plan detailing work materials, procedures, personnel
tasks/responsibilities, project plan(s) in MS Project format.

C. Proposed project management processes, tools and techniques

Bidders must describe its project management processes and tools to

include the following:

i. Project planning;
ii. Task estimation;
iii. Work allocation;
iv. Progress tracking and monitoring;
v. Reporting internal to the project and reporting to the
Commission;
vi. Problem resolution; and
vii. Change request procedures.
D. A proven or responsive implementation methodology

Bidders must describe the proposed methodology (including

implementation, tools and techniques) for progressing from
contract award, and through all critical phases of the project.
Bidders must also outline stage-wise items of delivery, review,
acceptance, persons responsible and other concerns to ensure
the quality of the products and services to be delivered.

2. Physical Site Plan, Design and Preparation

The Bidder shall propose a design, plan and schedule for the preparation of the physical
site that will house the various equipment in the different sites. The preparation of the
site shall include the detailed design and engineering work to be performed by the
Bidder for the Project, such as engineering services for the preparation of drawings,
maps, specifications, schedules, calculations, documents, estimates and coordination
with the engineering efforts of the subcontractor.
 The Bidder shall plan and design the installation site layouts in accordance with the
Bidders standards and prepare the sites according to the technical requirements of the
Project, with the approval of the COMELEC.

The proposed technical bid for this component should include a detailed description as
to how the following criteria shall be addressed by the Bidder in its bid:

. Operational efficiency

Operational efficiency shall be concerned with the smooth functioning of

installed equipment with provision for redundant power supply, redundant
communication links, etc.

A. Adherence to environment and safety standards

This criterion shall be concerned with the provision all required environmental
and safety provisions that adhere with published standards.

3. Quality Control and Quality Assurance

The COMELEC will conduct a full project audit at periodic intervals of the progress of the
Contractors schedule of work and deliverables through the Technical/Functional Team
and Audit Team independent of the project. The project audit is designed to ensure that
the Project delivers a range of Products, which may be goods and services, of an
appropriate quality within time scales and budget. For purposes of evaluation of the
bids, the Bidders must describe their standards for such audits including scope, required
conduct, demands upon project personnel, demands upon the COMELEC personnel and
outputs. However, during the Projects implementation, the Audit Reports shall be
prepared by an independent Audit Team whose members shall be appointed by
COMELEC.

The following tasks shall also be required:

 . Develop and implement procedures for the measurement and monitoring of the
SLAs for the other components of the Project;
A. Assist in the regular monitoring of SLA compliance for all components;
B. Assist in the conduct of a 3rd party Stress and Security Testing of all systems;
C. Assist in the conduct of a 3rd party code review of the system;
D. Assist in recommending acceptance and payment for the services or outputs,
and/or the position of penalties where applicable;

4. Change Management

The onset of the computerized operation of the envisioned system will call for changes
in the process and procedures presently used by the COMELEC. This will affect the
functions, relationships, authority and responsibilities of the Commissions offices. The
Commission, therefore, requires the Bidders to describe its proposed change and risk
management services detailing the following areas:

. Change management methodology that should have a conscious bias toward

organizational improvements and sustainability measures to effect procedural,
structural and attitudinal changes in the organization as a result of this project
and the agencys comprehensive modernization program;
A. Interventions and recommendations proposed must include strategies or
measures that will enable the Commission to address the following concerns:
. Empowerment of the COMELEC personnel in terms of knowledge,
attitudes and skills to eventually takeover the functions and thereby
enabling them to use the system in managing the electoral process
more effectively;
i. Reengineering and simplification of pre-election, election day and post-
election procedures while maintaining adequate security and control;
ii. Personnel sociological, cultural and psychological change process should
appeal to a sense of nationalism among employees, defining and
influencing their special role in the democratic/electoral reform process
of the country; and
 iii. Advocacy and communications plans for the change readiness
requirements of all stakeholders within and outside the Commission,
including candidates, local government units (LGUs), non-government
organizations (NGOs), as well as political and public sectors.
B. Voter Education and Information
. The winning bidder shall provide assistance in the conduct of the
information dissemination and education program by commenting on
the program or providing reference materials or contacts of other
system users.
i. The winning bidder shall design, develop and produce information
content ready for print, broadcast (radio and TV) and presentation in
audio-visual, Internet and other media forms.
ii. The winning bidder shall provide demo units for road shows.
iii. The winning bidder shall develop and maintain, in coordination with the
COMELEC, a website for this project for voter education purposes and
related information dissemination. The proposal shall include the
delivery of all requirements, including hardware (servers, firewall, etc.),
software (operating system, antivirus, firewall, etc.), services (web
development, etc.), technical training and communication link (high-
speed Internet connection, etc.), which shall be turned over to the
COMELEC after the duration of the project.
C. Policy Recommendations

The bidder shall provide the COMELEC with policy recommendations that the
bidder may deem necessary for the efficient operation, administration,
management and upgrading of the Commissions election administration
system. These policy recommendations shall clearly explain, in laymans terms,
why management should adopt and enforce these policies, how they impact on
the delivery of services, and how they affect the mission and goals of the
Commission. For example, some policy recommendations may be made on
security procedures, IT staffing and hiring, service contracting, budget
allocation, and others.
5. Risk Management and Contingency Planning

This refers to a risk management program that will address security and other related
risks (environmental, physical, political, people-related risks, etc.) that the project might
encounter in the course of project implementation and more so anticipate the possible
risks after the Project.

This shall also include a back-up plan in case of systems failure in any of the Project
components.

This shall also include issue and conflict resolution, in terms of providing alternative
courses of action, in case of inevitable conflicts among the parties involved in the
Project and the mitigation of risk in case there are any.

6. Configuration Management
0. Bidders shall provide a Configuration Management system. Configuration
Management provides guidance on developing and maintaining compatibility
and consistency of project documentation, products, and support items
throughout the project. It is imperative, from the functional baseline to the last
product baseline, that both client and project personnel have the same
definition of system configurations, configuration items and deliverables
throughout the project life cycle.
1. The configuration management process should describe clearly the step-by-step
activities, inputs, outputs and process metrics. It also harmonizes other
processes such as Requirements Management, Work Breakdown Schedule, and
Project Planning and Control.
Staffing

The Project Management team who shall report full-time should possess:

1. A proven track record in the management if IT projects preferably

with an outsourcing component;
2. Substantial experience and knowledge in the areas of applications
development, quality assurance and testing, data center operations,
computer hardware and networking, and change management; and
3. An appreciation of the processes and realities of government rules,
regulations and procedures.

Bidders must provide CVs of their proposed staff clearly showing the

relevant skills, work experience and professional certifications. Bidders may

propose additional staffing to complement skills of their proposed staff

(Commission on Elections, 2010).

Through automation we can ensure a credible transition of power

and have clean, honest and orderly automated elections. Setting up the

countrys automated and electoral system is a crucial step towards clean

and honest election. While it will not be a cure-all for the countrys

electoral problems, automating the polls will eliminate a lot of the human

intervention and that has made vote-rigging possible (Angara on Comelec,

2009).
Electronic Governance

Also in pursuit of a developed and more efficient government in the

Philippines, Teodoro (2009) emphasizes the importance of Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) in providing inter-connectivity not only in

the government infrastructures, but also in the enterprise private sector as

well. ITC can also be a tool in helping the country prepare for and respond

more effectively to natural and man-made disasters like flood control, early

warning and prediction of weather patterns. Many other agencies will

benefit through the ICT and it will help the country cope up against the

trend of globalization.

According to Dannug (2005), the advent of information technology

(IT) introduced new ways of transactions in government and in business.

The electronic mode of doing and finalizing transactions has become the

most fashionable way of ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, and efficacy of

new plans and programs. Practicing electronic governance (e-governance)

promotes a government that does more, that is cheaper, that is quicker,

that works better and that is innovative. In can provide benefits such as

better staff motivation or greater political control or an improved public

image and cheaper yet better services to those who depend on

government.

Technical Problems and Controversies

As any system in the Philippine goes, the automated election was still

unsuccessful to provide a fail-safe system. The National Citizens' Movement

for Free Elections (Namfrel) has cautioned the Commission on Elections

against the automated elections last 2013 pending unresolved issues in

the first computerized balloting last May 10. Among the issues being looked

upon are the wrong time and date stamps on the election returns, the lack

of digital signatures, and the incomplete inventory of the voting machines

and the compact flash cards. These deficiencies threw doubts on the

integrity of the results.

In the audit of a precinct cluster at the University of the Philippines

Integrated School, there were differences in the manual and machine count

for the positions of president, vice-president, and representatives. Teachers

who audited the ballots counted 689 votes for president, but the voting

machine tallied 695. The manual count for vice-president was 695, one

more vote than the machine tally. Overall, the machine had a 99.35-
percent accuracy, which is below the required 99.995 percent as told by

Namfrel (Alave, 2010).

National Development

A critical factor in good governance is the ability of the government

to generate trust that allows people to work together toward national

development. In this sense, Morgan and Qualman (1996) asserts that that

the effectiveness of organizational performance comes as much from the

political culture of the country as it does from the efficiency of the

organizations.

The key to development comes from the people through

performance evaluation. Szilagyi (1990) defines performance evaluation as

the process by which the organization obtains feedback about the

effectiveness of its employees. It serves as an auditing and control

functions generating information on which many organization decisions are

made. Performance is translated into behaviors and actions as rated by

supervisors and peers.

 The Economist (2010) underscores that the idea of progress forms

the backdrop to a society. In the extreme, without the possibility of

progress of any sort, your gain is someone elses loss. If human behavior is

unreformable, social policy can only ever be about trying to cage the ape

within. Society must in principle be able to move towards its ideals, such as

equality and freedom, or they are no more than cant and self-delusion.

This chapter presents the different related to study. The literature on

concept of election emphasizes the citizen's role in exercising their political

rights through elections. National and international laws as well as different

international bodies such as the United Nations sees to it that the sovereign

will of the people should win in an election. Suffrage is a right that is

afforded to all citizens regardless of sex, religion, political beliefs, literacy,

racial background, social status, and education. Suffrage is not only a right

but also a responsibility for every citizen to participate in administering

proper governance.

However, elections in the Philippines are not as ideal as it aims to be.

The Philippines has a long history of problematic and violent exercise of

elections characterized by fraud, terrorism, violence, vote-buying, ballot

snatching, bribery, cheating, and many more. Also, the Philippines used to

vote in the traditional way of writing the name of their chosen candidate in

an ordinary piece of paper which is very tedious and is prone to many

irregularities.

That is why many sectors including the Commission on Human Rights

are calling for change in the electoral process in pursuit of an honest, clean,

orderly, credible and genuine election. On May 10, 2010, the Philippines

witnessed its first-ever automated elections which vows not only to

eliminate irregularities but also improve the process of voting and

canvassing and on May 13, 2013, it witnessed the second automated

elections to change the electoral process and minimize cheatings in the

election. The literature on Election Automation contains the complex yet

specific technicalities of a paper-based automated election system which

came from the Commission on Elections itself.

In addition to automation, electronic governance is also being

pursued which help the country will cope up against the trend of

globalization. The importance of Information and Computer Technology

(ICT) is being emphasized to provide inter-connectivity between the

government and the people. Practicing electronic governance promotes a

government that does more, that is cheaper, quicker, innovative, and works

better.

However, the country's step towards modernization was still

unsuccessful to provide a 100% reliable system. There were still unresolved

issues from the computerized balloting such as missing compact flash cards,

wrong time and date stamps on election returns, failure to achieve 100%

accuracy and many more.

That is why this study is being pursued to make way for improvement

of this new system. In the literature of National development, the key to

development comes from the feedback of the people through performance

evaluation. This feedback is a vital element to provide directions on

decisions being made. The voice of the people is essential because the

ability of the government to generate trust allows the people to work

together toward national development

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY

This chapter dealt with the research design procedure that was used

by the researcher in gathering and analyzing data. It involves the following:

The type of research design used, locale of the study, the type of

respondents, data gathering, research instruments and statistical tools used

in this research.

Research Design

The descriptive and quantitative analysis method of research will be

used in this study. Descriptive research, as defined by Manuel and Medel

(1993), is a method that involves description, recording, analysis, and

interpretation of the present nature, composition or process of

phenomena. This method describes what is. This focuses on prevailing

conditions, or how a person, group, or thing behaves or functions in the

present. It often involves some type of comparison or contrast.

Furthermore, Calderon and Gonzales (1993) defines descriptive

research as a purposive process of gathering, analysing, classifying and

tabulating, data about prevailing conditions, practices, beliefs, processes,

trends, and cause-effect relationships and then making adequate and

accurate interpretations about such data with or without the aid of

statistical methods.

Since the present study is concerned with the advantages and

disadvantages of automated elections, the descriptive method of research

will be the most appropriate method to use.

Described in the study is the overall process of the automated

elections system and its transition from the manual election system.

Evaluated will be the impact of the automation to the Commission on

Elections and the voters, the problems encountered in the process, and the

suggested solution to these problems.

Research Locale

The study was conducted at the Mindanao State University Main

Campus, Islamic City of Marawi. The study was conducted at the Mindanao

State University Main Campus, Islamic City of Marawi. The Mindanao State

University, founded on September 1, 1961 through Republic Act 1387 and

Republic Act 1893, has evolved over the years in keeping with national and

local developments. The brain-child of late Senator, Domocao Alonto, it

grows from its main campus Marawi City to a University System that now

comprises several campuses located in major centers in Mindanao and

Sulu. Its first president was Dr. Antonio Isidro who came in from his position

as the Vice President for Academic Affairs in the University of the

Philippines.

The mandates of the University are, namely: (1) To perform the

traditional functions of a university namely: instruction, research and

extension service; (2) To help accelerate the program of the integration

among the peoples of Southern Philippines, particularly the Muslims and

other cultural minorities, and (3) To provide trained manpower skills and

technical know-how for the economic development of the of Mindanao

while achieving international recognition as leading institution of higher

learning. Its mission statement is as follows:

"Committed to the attainment of peace and sustainable

development in the MINSUPALA region, the MSU System will set the

standards of excellence in science, arts, technology, and other fields;

accelerate the economic, cultural, socio-political, and agro-industrial

development of the Muslim and other cultural groups, thereby facilitating

their integration into the national community, preserve and promote the

cultural heritage of the region and conserve its natural resources; and

infuse moral and spiritual values. For collaborative efforts, for diplomatic

relations, and for international recognition as a leading institution of higher

learning, the MSU System will pursue vigorously linkages with foreign

agencies.
Fig. 2. Map of Mindanao State University MAIN Campus
Data Gathering Procedure

The method of collecting data that will be used in the study is the

normative survey. Calderon and Gonzales (1993) explain that the normative

survey is concerned with looking into the commonality of some elements. It

is used in collecting demographic data about peoples behavior, practices,

intentions, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, judgments, interests, perceptions,

and the like and then such data are analyzed, organized, and interpreted.

Since the present research is a status study, the normative survey would be

the most appropriate method to use in gathering data.

The instrument that will be used to collect data is a questionnaire.

This will be used because it gathers data faster than any other method.

Besides, the respondents will be faculty of this institution and so they are

very literate. They could read and answer the questionnaire without

difficulty. The questionnaire will be used to gather feedback of the voters

on the automated election system.

The researcher will also use the interview method in gathering

necessary data from the Commission on Elections. This will help the

researcher arrive at a more complete and valid information wherein

greater complex questions can be asked by the researcher to be provided

by greater complex data which shall be vital to the study.

Selection of Respondents

In selection of respondents, the researcher will be identifying

the target population of the study and will be computing for the actual

sample.

Since the feedback from the people should come from the

electorate or those who have voted in the election, the respondents should

be chosen by considering certain criteria such as the following:

1. The respondents must be employed at Mindanao State

University Main Campus for school year 2013 - 2014

2. The respondents must be 18 years old and above

3. The respondents must have participated in the 2010 and 2013

national and local elections.

The researcher chose respondents employed at Mindanao

State University for the purpose of availability and since employees of the
said institution are very literate, they will be able to answer the

questionnaire without difficulty.

The respondents should also be at least eighteen (18) years of

age for it is the mandatory age in practicing the right to suffrage as stated

in Article V of the Philippine Constitution. For this reason, the researcher

will be including students who are at least at the 3rd year level assuming

that most of them are of 18 years at the time of the election.

Finally, the respondents must have exercised their right to vote

in the May 13, 2013 elections to be able to obtain the data needed with

regards to the Automated Election System

Statistical Tools

Simple descriptive statistical tools such as frequency and percentage

distribution were used to analyze and interpret the data of the study and to

facilitate the compilation of the data from the respondents. The formula is

shown below:

1. Frequency and Percentage Distribution. These were used to obtain

the profile of the respondents.

Formula: Where,

P = Percentage

F = Frequency

= 100
N = Number of Respondent

100 = Constant
 CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter discusses the presentation, analysis, and interpretation

of data gathered by the researchers. They are divided into two main parts:

the first part tables the socio-economic profile distribution of the

respondents according to their age, gender, educational attainment, civil

status, occupation, monthly income. The second part tables the

Respondents Assessment on Automated Election. The Gathered data were

drawn out from the statistical process and were based on their frequency

and percentage.
 PART 1. PROFILE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONDENTS

Table 1.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
according to their Age.

AGE FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

18-28 years old 7 23%

29-39 years old 15 50%

40-50 years old 7 23%

51-61 years old 1 4%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 1 shows that 1 or 4% of the respondents were belonging to the

age ranges from 51-61 years old. 6 or 20% of the respondents were

belonging to the age ranges from 40-50 years old. And 7 or 23% of the

respondents were belonging to the ranges from bracket 18-28 years old.

Moreover, findings reveal that majority of the respondents, 15 or 50% of

them, were at the middle age class of 29-39 years old.

 Table 2.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
according to their Gender.

GENDER FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Male 8 27%

Female 22 73%

TOTAL 30 100%
Table 2 shows that only 8 or 27% of the respondents were males

while the remaining 22 or 73% of the respondents were all females. This

only implies that majority of the respondents were female.

Table 3.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
according to their Educational Attainment (Secular Education).

HIGHESTS EDUCATIONAL FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

ATTAINMENT

College 16 53%

Masters Degree 12 40%

Doctorate Degree 2 7%

TOTAL 30 100%
 Table 3 shows that 2 or 7% of the respondents were holders of

Doctorate degree. 12 or 40% of the respondents were holders of Masters

degree. Furthermore, finding shows that majority of the respondents, 16 or

53% of them, were college graduates

Table 4.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
according to their Civil Status.

CIVIL STATUS FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Single 9 30%

Married 21 70%

Widow/er 0 0%

Divorcee 0 0%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 4 shows that only 9 or 30% of the respondents were single.

Finding says that majority of them, 21 or 70% of the respondents, were all

married.
 Table 5.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
according to their Monthly Income.

MONTHLY INCOME FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

1,000 - 10,000 0 0%

10,001 - 20,000 10 33%

20,001 - 30,000 14 47%

30,001 - 40,000 4 13%

40,001 - 50,000 2 7%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 5 shows that only 2 or 7% of the respondents were earning a

monthly income of 40,001 - 50,000. 4 or 13% of the respondents were

earning monthly income of 30,001 - 40,000. Another 10 or 33% of the

respondents were earning 10,001 - 20,000 per month. Finding shows

that majority of the respondents, 14 or 47% of them, were earning the

average earnings amounting to 20,001 - 30,000 per month.

 PART 2. AUTOMATED ELECTION ASSESSMENT

Table 6.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
that were able to vote in the automated elections last 2010 and 2013.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Yes 30 100%

No 0 0%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 6 shows that 30 or 100% of the respondents were able to vote

in the Automated Elections last 2010 and 2013.

 Table 7.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
Enthusiasm in voting through an Automated Election System.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Very Enthusiastic 8 27%

Enthusiastic 16 53%

Fairly Enthusiastic 6 20%

Unenthusiastic 0 0%

Very Unenthusiastic 0 0%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 7 shows that 6 or 20% of the respondents were fairly

enthusiastic in voting through an Automated Election System. 8 or 27%

were very enthusiastic in voting and the majority, 16 or 53% were

enthusiastic in voting through an Automated Election.

 Table 8.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
efficiency in voting process in terms of ease.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Very Efficient 6 20%

Efficient 15 50%

Fairly Efficient 9 30%

Inefficient 0 0

Very Inefficient 0 0

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 8 shows that 6 or 20% of the respondents were very efficient in

the voting process. 9 or 30% of the respondents were fairly efficient in the

voting process and the rest majority of the respondents, 15 or 50% of them,

were efficient in the voting process in terms of ease.

 Table 9.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
perception on how fast is the voting process during the election.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Very Fast 6 20%

Fast 19 63%

Fairly Fast 3 10%

Slow 2 7%

Very Slow 0 0

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 9 shows that 2 or 7% of the respondents had experienced a

slow voting process. 3 or 10% of the respondents had experienced a very

fast voting process. 6 or 20% of the respondents had experienced a fairly

fast voting process and the rest majority of the respondents, 19 or 60% of

them, had experienced a fast voting process during the election.

 Table 10.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
confidence in the accuracy of the results after canvass.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Very Confident 2 7%

Confident 9 30%

Fairly Confident 7 23%

Doubtful 11 37%

Very Doubtful 1 3%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 10 shows that 1 or 3% of the respondents were very doubtful

in the results. 2 or 7% of the respondents were very confident in the

accuracy of results. 7 or 23% of the respondents were fairly confident in the

results. 9 or 30% of the respondents were confident in the accuracy of

results and the majority of the respondents, 11 or 37% of them, were

doubtful in the accuracy of results after the canvass. This implies that

majority of respondents were not convinced in the accuracy of results.

 Table 11.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
overall rating for the automated election system.

INDICATOR FREQUENCY ( f ) PERCENTAGE (%)

Very Effective 4 13%

Effective 13 43%

Fairly Effective 11 37%

Ineffective 2 7%

Very Ineffective 0 0%

TOTAL 30 100%

Table 11 shows that 2 or 7% of the respondents rated ineffective for

the automation system. 4 or 13% of the respondents were very effective in

the overall rating of automated election system. 11 or 37% of the

respondents rated fairly effective in the automated election and the

majority of the respondents, 13 or 43% of them, rated Effective in the

overall rating in the automation system. This only implies that majority of

respondents were satisfied in the Automated Election System.

 Table 12.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
Top Five (5) Advantages of Automated Election System.

ADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATED FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE RANK

ELECTION SYSTEM (f) (%)
Easy and Fast Voting 21 14% 1
Secure storage of votes 20 13% 2
Low cost and without wasting paper 18 12% 3
Printing copies of preliminary voters list 17 11% 4
Identifying duplicate registrations 15 10% 5
Producing statistics on voter registration 13 9% 6
Initial recoding of voter information 11 7% 7
Maintaining the continuous list 9 6% 8
Data entry to revise the preliminary 7 5% 9
voters list
General record keeping and maintenance 7 5% 9
Maintaining record of the materials 7 5% 9
inventory
Keeping an audit trail of the changes 5 3% 10
made to each voter record
TOTAL 150 100%

Table 12 tables the frequency and percentage distribution of the

respondents top five (5) advantages of automated election system. It

shows that 5 or 3% of the respondents chose the statement Keeping an

audit trail of the changes made to each voter record. 7 or 5% of the

respondents chose the statement Maintaining record of the materials

inventory. Also 7 or 5% of the respondents chose the statement General

record keeping and maintenance. Likewise, another 7 or 5% of the

respondents chose the statement Data entry to revise the preliminary

voters list. 9 or 6% of the respondents chose the statement Maintaining

the continuous list. 11 or 7% of the respondents chose the statement

Initial recording of voter information. 13 or 9% of the respondents chose

the statement Producing statistics on voter registration.

Additionally, the respondents top five (5) best chosen statements

regarding the advantages of the automated election system are the

following (shown in bold fonts): 15 or 10% of the respondents chose the

statement Identifying duplicate registrations. 17 or 11% of the

respondents chose the statement Printing copies of preliminary voters

list. 18 or 12% of the respondents chose the statement Low cost and

without wasting paper. Furthermore, 20 or 13% of the respondents chose

the statement Secure storage of votes. Moreover, majority of the

respondents, 21 or 14% of them, selected the statement Easy and Fast

Voting.
 Table 13.
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
Top Five (5) Disadvantages of Automated Election System.

DISADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATED FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE RANK

ELECTION SYSTEM (f) (%)
Lack of privacy in voting 23 15% 1
Overcrowding on clustered precincts 21 14% 2
Lack of proper orientation 19 13% 3
Noisy Environment 17 11% 4
Faulty Equipment 16 10% 5
Risk of Theft 13 9% 6
Lack of security personnel 11 7% 7
Erroneous Results 8 6% 8
Weak administration of the board of 7 5% 9
election inspectors
Inadequate election equipment 6 4% 10
Registration Problems 6 4% 10
Unavailability of voters ID 3 2% 11
TOTAL 150 100%

Table 13 tables the frequency and percentage distribution of the

respondents top five (5) disadvantages of automated election system. It

shows that 3 or 2% of the respondents chose the statement Unavailability

of voters ID. 6 or 4% of the respondents chose the statement

Registration Problems. 6 or 4% of the respondents chose the statement

Inadequate election equipment. 7 or 5% of the respondents chose the

statement Weak administration of the board of election inspectors. 8 or

6% of the respondents chose the statement Erroneous Results. 11 or 7% of

the respondents chose the statement Lack of security personnel. In

addition, 13 or 9% of the respondents chose the statement Risk of Theft.

Furthermore, the respondents top five (5) best chosen statements

regarding the disadvantages of the automated election system are the

following (shown in bold fonts): 16 or 10% of the respondents chose the

statement Faulty Equipment. 17 or 11% of the respondents chose the

statement Noisy Environment. 19 or 13% of the respondents chose the

statement Lack of proper orientation. 21 or 14% of the respondents

chose the statement Overcrowding on clustered precincts. Moreover,

majority of the respondents, 23 or 15% of them, selected the statement

Lack of privacy in voting.

 CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, FINDINGS, IMPLICATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter shows the summary of the study, major findings,

conclusions, implications and recommendations of the study.

Summary

This study adopts the descriptive and quantitative survey method

of research to find out the views of selected faculty members of Mindanao

State University of Automated Election System during the Second Semester

School Year 2013-2014. Specifically, it sought to answer the following

questions: what are the socio-economic profiles of the selected parents as

respondents in terms of Age, Gender, Civil Status, Educational Attainment,

Monthly Income; what are the advantages and disadvantages of its

implementation; and what are the implications of the findings that can be

drawn out of the study.

This study was conducted at Mindanao State University Main

Campus, Marawi City. There were thirty (30) selected faculty members as
respondents interviewed using structured questionnaires for the collection

of needed data. The statistical tools used were: frequency and percentage.

The study reveals that fifty percent (50%) of the respondents were

belong to the age bracket 29-39 years old, seventy-three (73%) of the

respondents were females, fifty-three (53%) of the respondents were

college graduates, seventy (70%) of the respondents were married, forty-

seven percent (47%) of the respondents were earning ranging from

20,001 to 30,000 monthly.

In addition, with regards to their views towards automated election

system: one hundred percent (100%) of the respondents were able to vote

in the automate election last 2010 and 2013, fifty-three percent (53%) of

the respondents were enthusiastic in voting through automated election

system, fifty percent (50%) of the respondents were efficient in the voting

process in terms of ease, sixty three (63%) of the respondents has

experienced a fast voting process during the election, thirty-seven percent

(37%) of the respondents were doubtful in the accuracy of results after the

canvass, and forty-three percent (40%) of the respondents rated effective

in the automated election system.

 Furthermore, with regards to the respondents top five (5) best

chosen statements regarding the advantages of automated election

system: Fourteen percent (14%) of the respondents chose the statement

Easy and Fast Voting Thirteen percent (13%) of the respondents chose

the statement Secure storage of votes. Twelve percent (12%) of the

respondents chose the statement Low cost and without wasting paper

Eleven percent (11%) of the respondents chose the statement Printing

copies of preliminary voters list. and Ten (10%) of the respondents chose

the statement Identifying duplicate registrations.

Moreover, with regards to the respondents top five (5) best chosen

statements regarding the disadvantages of automated election system:

Fifteen percent (15%) of the respondents chose the statement Lack of

privacy in voting. Fourteen percent (14%) of the respondents chose the

statement Overcrowding on clustered precincts. Thirteen percent (13%)

of the respondents chose the statement Lack of proper orientation

Eleven percent (11%) of the respondents chose the statement Noisy

Environment Ten percent (10%) of the respondents chose the statement

Faulty Equipment.
Major Findings

Based from the data gathered, the following major findings were

given:

1. Majority (50%) of the respondents were belong to the age bracket

29-39 years old;

2. Majority (73%) of the respondents were females;

3. Majority (53%) of the respondents were college graduates;

4. Majority (70%) of the respondents were married;

5. Majority (47%) of the respondents were earning ranging from

20,001 to 30,000 monthly;

6. Majority (100%) of the respondents were able to vote in the

automated elections last 2010 and 2013;

7. Majority (53%) of the respondents were enthusiastic in voting

through an Automated Election;

8. Majority (30%) of the respondents were efficient in the voting

process in terms of ease;

9. Majority (63%) of the respondents has experienced a fast voting

process during the election;

10. Majority (37%) of the respondents were doubtful in the accuracy of

the results after canvass.

11. Majority (43%) of the respondents rated effective in the overall

rating in the automation system.

12. Majority (14%) of the respondents chose the statement Easy and

Fast Voting;

13. Majority (13%) of the respondents chose the statement Secure

storage of votes.

14. Majority (12%) of the respondents chose the statement Low cost

and without wasting paper.

15. Majority (11%) of the respondents chose the statement Printing

copies of preliminary voters list.

16. Majority (10%) of the respondents chose the statement Identifying

duplicate registrations.

17. Majority (15%) of the respondents chose the statement Lack of

privacy in voting.

18. Majority (14%) of the respondents chose the statement

Overcrowding on clustered precincts.

 19.Majority (13%) of the respondents chose the statement Lack of

proper orientation.

20.Majority (11%) of the respondents chose the statement Noisy

environment.

21.Majority (11%) of the respondents chose the statement Faulty

Equipment.

Conclusions

Congruent with the foregoing findings, the following conclusions

have been reached: Majority of the respondents were belong to the age

bracket 29-39 years old, females, college graduates, were earning ranging

from 20,001 to 30,000 monthly.

In addition, with regards to their views towards K to 12 curriculum:

majority of the respondents were able to vote in the automated election

system last 2010 and 2013, were enthusiastic in voting through an

automated election, were efficient in the voting process in terms of ease,

has experienced a fast voting process during the election, were doubtful in

the accuracy of results after the canvass. and rated effective as overall

rating for the automated election system.

 Furthermore, it can also be concluded with regards to the

respondents top five (5) advantages of automated election system,

majority of the respondents selected these top five (5) statements: Easy

and Fast Voting., Secure storage of votes., Low cost and without

wasting paper, Printing copies of preliminary voters list, and

Identifying duplicate registrations.

Moreover, with regards to the respondents top five (5)

disadvantages of automated election system, majority of the respondents

selected these top five (5) statements: Lack of privacy in voting,

Overcrowding on clustered precincts., Lack of proper orientation.,

Noisy Environment and Faulty Equipment.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions, the researchers address their

suggestions and recommendations to the following:

To the students, the content in this study can be used as basis for

their future researches and studies. The outcome of the study can be used

as reference to similar studies with regards to the election system in the

Philippines.

To the Comission on Elections, the results of the study especially the

problems and the solutions suggested can help guide the commission for

improvement and future modification of the existing electoral system. The

commission will also be informed of the feedback by the voting public to

the different policies that they establish.

To the Law Makers. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for

policy development especially with regards to modernization and the

election system. The implications in the study can also open doors for

improvement of other government services such as electronic governance.

 To the public, this study may not only represent the feedback of the

electorate government but it will also raise awareness on the advantages

and disadvantages of the automated elections. It may also encourage active

participation by the people on other activities by the government.

To the future researchers, the findings of this study as reference

material and source of information for future researchers for any paper

works relating to this topic.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Scripture
Abdullah Yusuf Ali: The Holy Quran: English Translation of the
Meaning and Commentary: King Fahd Holy Quran Printing
Complex, Madinah, K.S.A, 1995

Imad ud-Din Abu Al-Fida' Isma il bin 'Umar Ibn Kathir Al-Qurashi Al-
Busrawi: Tafsir Ibn Kathir, International Islamic Publishing
House, 1996

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Republic Act No. 8046 Party List Law, Fair Elections Act and the
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Republic Act No. 8436 Election Automation Act of 1997

Republic Act No. 9369 Election Automation Act of 2007

Batas Pambansa Bilang 181 Omnibus Election Code of the

Philippines

Human Rights Act of 2004 Australian Capital Territory Legislative

Assembly

Universal Declaration of Human Rights of

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Bobby Tuazon, Was Your Vote Counted? Unveiling the myths of
Philippine automated elections, CenPEG Publisher, 2013

Jorge V. Tigno et.al: Philippine Democracy Asessment: Free and Fair

Elections, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2013
 Rene B. Azurin: Hacking Our Democracy, BusinessWorld, 2013

Jeniffer Conroy Franco: Elections and Democratization in the

Philippines, Routledge, New York, 2001

Arthur Young & Company; Computerizing Election Administration:

Implementation strategies, National Clearinghouse on Election
Administration, Federal Election Commission, 1987

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http://www. http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2010/05/05/will-automated-
elections-in-the-philippines-increase-public-confidence/

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 MOHAMMAD MOJIB D.
MARANGIT
0025 Abdulrahman bin Auf St. Bo. Marawi, Marawi City
[email protected]
+(63)927-5643-632/+(63)999-7721-203

PERSONAL Nickname: MOJIB

INFORMATION Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
January 4, 1994
St. Marys Hospital, Iligan City
Age: 22 y.o.
Gender: Male
Civil Status: Single
Religion: Islam
Fathers Name: H. Samim Domiyangca M. Marangit
Mothers Name: H. Rohaima Raisalam D. Marangit

ACADEMIC
Elementary: Ibn Siena Integrated School Foundation Inc
FORMATION Biyaba, Marawi City (2001-2004)

Amai-Pakpak Central Elementary School

Barrio Green, Marawi City (2005-2006)

Secondary: Philippine Integrated School Foundation Inc

Bangon, Marawi City (2007-2010)
CLASS VALEDICTORIAN

Tertiary: Mindanao State University Main

MSU Campus, Marawi City (2011-2014)