In 2010 the Philippines implemented a new electronic voting system to improve election administration. A seamless voter experience, and the speed, transparency and efficiency with which the entire process was carried out meant a significant contribution to the democratic processes of the Asian nation.
In this unprecedented process in the history of the Philippines Smartmatic delivered reliable results that were accepted by the participating political parties. The positive reactions of relevant diplomats appointed in the archipelago serve to illustrate the level of the success achieved:
“I had the privilege of observing the electoral process (…) and was impressed by the manner in which this first nation-wide automated election was conducted. Voters seemed generally comfortable with this new system, turn-out was high, and the automation process seemed to work well, with relatively few technical hitches” | Alistair MacDonald, EU Ambassador to the Philippines.
“Our observations suggested that this process was carried out smoothly, and the results transmitted rapidly, in the great majority of cases” | Alistair MacDonald, EU Ambassador to the Philippines.
Now, three years later, the Philippines is again in the road towards another automated election. Although COMELEC is yet to finish selecting all the providers necessary to cover the multiple aspects of the election, Smartmatic has already secured its participation as it has been awarded different contracts to provide technology and services
Smartmatic’s Electoral Solution for the Philippines in 2013 will encompass:
- MTD Modems: Smartmatic is now in charge of supplying and configuring the 15,000 additional transmission modems that will upgrade the automated voting platform. In total, 55,000 external modem units will be connected to the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines upon the closing of elections to facilitate the transmission of results.
- CF Cards Main: Each one of the more than 82,000 PCOS machines to be used during the elections will use one of these CF Cards Main. The cards are data storage devices for the voting machines that contain both election configuration files and election results.
- CF Cards WORM: These are Write-Once-Read-Many data storage devices for the PCOS machines that unalterably back-up the election results. Each PCOS machine will have one.
- Transmission services: Smartmatic will provide transmission services from the different testing activities to the actual elections using wired, wireless or satellite technology. The provided transmission technology will be flexible, secure, redundant and highly reliable.
It is important to mention that last year COMELEC purchased from Smartmatic the more than 82,200 Precinct-Count Optical Scanners used during the 2010 elections to capture the votes cast by 50.7 million Filipinos.
With the consolidation of all these ties to the Philippines, Smartmatic strengthens a symbiotic relationship with a nation firmly determined to conduct transparent, accurate and efficient elections that lead to legitimate results.