Comelec gets OK for automated poll system

A week before the midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that it had issued the certification of the Automated Election System (AES), the final component required for the full implementation of its automation system.

According to the poll body, this certification assures that the AES can "operate properly, securely, and accurately."

Section 11 of Republic Act 9369 requires that a certification be issued by the Technical Evaluation Committee.

The certification is based on the following documented results:

• The successful conduct of a field testing process, followed by a mock election event in one or more cities or municipalities

• The successful completion of a source code review

• A certification that the source code reviewed is one and the same as that used by the equipment

• The development, provisioning, and operationalization of a continuity plan to cover risks to the AES at all points in the process, so that failures of election—whether at voting, counting, or consolidation—may be avoided

Comelec began field testing activities in different locations across the country in November. The poll body conducted these tests in Taguig, at its main office in Intramuros, Manila, and in overseas locations.

Mock elections were held on 25 January.

An internal audit of the AES software’s accuracy, functionality, and security controls has also been conducted by Comelec.

A walkthrough of the Pre-Election Logic and Accuracy Tests (Pre-LAT) was held on 31 March, while the local source code review was completed in January.

The source codes of the AES were deposited in escrow with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on 25 March.

Finally, the hash codes of the automated counting machine software were validated on 31 March.