third world automation, way to go :(

kaya ba talaga ng comelec / smartmatic na i-replace ang flash cards ng bawat PCOS machine nationwide in the next two days, for testing and sealing immediately?   that’s a big job, and with mercury still retrograde — paatras pa rin ang takbo ng maraming bagay-bagay — sobrang nakakaduda, lalo na’t, according to a tweet by mlq3 today:

From Bacolod friend as of 11:48AM PCOS machines not yet distributed to precincts. No testing done yet.

hay naku.   how third world lang, ‘no.   our best efforts just aren’t good enough, i fear.   daryll delgado‘s fb status 5 hours ago says it all:

These errors, machine failures, inaccuracies have been the subject of reports by third-party observers months ago. That they’re only being paid attention to now, just days before the elections, may be a means of, is certainly effective at, creating a collective sense of doom and dread, and worse, resignation.

ngayon, kung flash cards lang talaga ang problema, here’s a suggestion from my brother louie:

if (!) it is true that PCOS works well enough for national positions on ballot front, and problem is limited to local posts behind: logical best move is to continue national polls on may 10 and postpone local polls alone for however many days it takes to correct the glitch, whatever additional cost may be.

sounds good to me.    though i really wish we were holding a parallel manual count nationwide, just because it’s the first time we’re automating, and we need to see for ourselves that it works better and faster and no cheating can/will happen.    the only way we can be sure of this is if we had manual counting to compare results with.   but no, say ng isa (di ko na maalala kung sino), kung merong sabay na manual and automated counting of votes, at nagkaroon ng discrepancies sa results, lalo daw magkakagulo!    oo, ganyan sila magisip.   insteadof, kung may discrepancies hanapin natin kung saan, sino, ano ang nagkamali at ating iwasto immediately and for the longterm.   hindi kailangang magkagulo, basta malinaw sa electorate kung bakit natatagalan ang proseso, and that we need to go through something like that to develop confidence in the comelec, and in voting/counting machines.

likewise, if the may 10 elections push through, hindi kailangang magkagulo.   not if we all practise patience.   there are going to be all kinds of glitches, nothing will go smoothly, patience is a virtue.   who knows, we might end up doing manual counts in many places, and that’s going to take time.   so, let’s all be vigilant pa rin, but reeeaally patient, lalo na the presidential candidates, winning and losing, and their avid supporters.   hindi magkakagulo, basta walang tawagan ng people power, please lang, hangga’t maaari.