Regurgitated
Almost as certain as the sun rises, some conspiracy theory comes up about the integrity of our elections every time a major decision about the purchase of expensive technology looms.
The time has come for the Commission on Elections to make a decision about the electronic hardware used for rapidly counting our votes. As always, numerous conspiracy theorists circulate. All of them suggest new equipment should be bought and new suppliers sought.
We all know what animates these conspiracy theories – although it is rarely said in polite company.
Yesterday, news broke that the Comelec decided to exclude Smartmatic from participating in future bidding for electronic voting technologies. The news broke because of a Viber post from Comelec Chairman George Garcia.
If the electronic voting technology we have in use is completely replaced, this will require a very large appropriation. That may be bad news for taxpayers, but it is certainly good news for rival merchants and their friends in high places.
Over the past months, a number of so-called “experts” in electronic voting systems have been stumping against what they say are flaws in the Smartmatic technology we use. They have so far failed to prove that a single vote was anomalous. If there were any serious flaws in the counting of votes in previous elections, then the very legitimacy of the current administration could come into question.
Critics of Smartmatic claim that various cases have been filed in the US against Smartmatic. The technology company however says that not a single case against them exists – in the US or elsewhere. The claim peddled by these critics is clearly disinformation easily refuted by a Google search.
Most of the arguments against the current automated vote counting system we use are either patently false or regurgitated rumor. It is amazing how critics of this counting system actually impress even some of our election commissioners.
An 11-page petition was filed with the Comelec by a group led by former communications technology undersecretary Eliseo Rio and former poll commissioner Augusto Lagman. Both have been actively campaigning against the use of Smartmatic technology.
Lagman, in