AN executive of technology provider Indra Sistemas SA has finally expressed confidence the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would eventually tap the company to provide new and more advanced Optical Mark Reader (OMR) voting machines to be used in the 2016 elections.
In an interview with reporters, Indra Spokesman on Technical Matters Javier Moreno said the firm has submitted all the requirements that the Comelec needed in order to be declared eligible to bid for the P2.5-billion contract.
In fact, the Comelec unanimously declared that it is eligible to vie for the project.
Regarding its technology, Moreno expressed belief that the machines Indra presented before the Comelec is more advanced in terms of image and security features.
Moreno said image quality is important because the higher the resolution of the image, the more accurate the counting of the votes will be.
He said that in previous elections, there were issues about some marks on the ballots that cannot be read due to poor scanned image and the presence of digital lines.
“So the quality of the image that our machines can give are much improved so that the software that will analyze later the image can work better and the results is much more accurate,” Moreno said.
With regard to security, Moreno noted that in 2010 and 2013, the results were transmitted without being encrypted or without being digitally signed.
As a result, Moreno said, the results sent to the canvassing centers were not authenticated.
“We have implemented different levels of security measures in our system to assure that all the data inside the machine transmitted for canvassing are encrypted and digitally signed. Thus, we can be sure that actual results were the ones transmitted by the machines,” Moreno said.
Aside from providing the OMR machines, Indra Sistemas SA has also expressed its interest in refurbishing the 80-odd Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines of the Comelec.
“We already sent letters to the Comelec explaining our capability and interest in the [PCOS] refurbishment project,” Moreno said.
He said they have enough capability to repair the PCOS machines since it is not a complicated system.
“To be honest, the PCOS [machines] is not that complicated, complex system. Inside you have the scanner and printer components, but it’s not a complex machine,” Moreno said.