Comelec/Smartmatic PCOS Machine Malfunction Cost Me My Vote This Election

I went home to Paete, Laguna at 6am this morning just to cast my vote for the Philippines' first Automated election.

Arrived in Paete at 930am, walked to Ibaba Elementary School, saw the long lines at the gates, didn't bother to check inside, went straight home, ordered pancit canton at Benga's Panciteria, ate a hearty meal, took a nap, chatted with my parents, went back to the poll precints at 1pm

My parents and li'l sister were able to vote at their precincts for about 15 minutes, but my name, i found listed on the next precint incidentally has a non-working PCOS (precint count optical scanner) machine that made a very long queue. (Question: what's the COMELEC's rationale for separating members of the same households to different precincts/)

I went home again to eat lunch, waited for 3pm, got back to my precinct still with PCOS machine error

Since I don't have the luxury of time to wait, I decided to just go straight back home to Quezon City, leaving me one of many disenfranchised voters out there.

At least I tried, unlike many others who didn't even bothered to vote, and who has no right to question the government for their inefficiency and corrupt ways

Project Full Moon: Plan to Cheat the May 2010 Elections

I received a text message this morning from an anonymous sender with this allegation of cheating to be done on May 10, 2010 automated elections. the SMS message says:

"A1 Information: DND Sec. Norberto Gonzales will manage the d May election cheating thru GEN. bangit, GEN. Prestoza's project FULLMOON, in favor of Manny Villar...FVR, PUNO, & GMA are behind ds dirty tactics w/ a certain computer hacker MARTIN LEEBIONG a Korean National. HE WILL DO THE SWITCHING OF PREPARED CD, pls. Pass so FIlipinos will know dis evil plan, from Chit Saavedra, Cp No. 09091388077. pls pass ASAP"

I don't really know where the text message came from or where he got the information and where he got the idea that in order to cheat in the coming elections, he only needs to swap CDs to do it and using the services of an alleged korean hacker.

I have yet to see the actual PCOS (precint count optical scan) machines to be used in the automated elections but I know they're not using CDs but flash cards, where the defective flash cards made news on tv.

It's really possible to cheat the automated elections using not so high-tech means by infiltrating the ranks of the COMELEC-- the weakest link which are the people manning the machines, the operators and crooked insiders.

The plot the cheat outlined here is unbelievable actuall but not impossible. Utmost vigilance is needed to thwart such evil attempts to cheat in the elections.

I guess i'll still see brownouts on election day, like what I normally see in my hometown Paete, Laguna :(

Brownouts on Election Day: Still Effective Way to Cheat in the 2010 Automated Elections?

I've seen it happen over the past elections at least in my hometown Paete, Laguna. Some "wisemen" would find a way to trip electric supply at least of the elementary schools where counting of ballots at the precint levels are still on-going. that was the manual elections of the past.

Come this May 2010 automated elections using the new COMELEC system of Precint Count Optical System machines utilizing scanners to scan ballots shaded with the candidates circcles, would browouts still be able to hide the cheaters doing their dirty tricks?

I just hope backup batteries and generators would really be deployed to ensure fair and honest elections without delay. As fas as i know, election day browouts can only delay the electoral process but will not affect the vote count and tally. If the cheaters can swap the flashcards, hack into the voting machines, tap into the network (wireless, GPRS, EDGE, 3G) of the telcos and alter the data being sent probably aided by evil COMELEC insiders like e-Garci at night when it's dark but I think most of the ballots are already scanned, transmitted and thus counted by COMELEC servers located inside the datacenter.

Cheaters have PhDs in manual election cheating but the automated elections is a different ballgame requiring new tools and tricks of the trade.

COMELEC: Check Your Voter Registration and Voting Precinct Online

For people like me living in Metro Manila (or elsewhere) and yet continue to be registered in my hometown (Paete for me of course), I can now check if there's any problem with my voter registration if I'm no longer included in the voters list (for those who did not vote during past elections)

You can view your voter registration online on the COMELEC website.
this is handy for me for I'm still registered in my hometown in Laguna.

You need to enter your full name (first, middle and family names) and birthday to get your precinct number, town/city, barangay and other information here. At least you no longer have to manually look for your name the precint number list posted on the precinct, quite a daunting task for large communities.

Let's just hope there are few disenfranchised voters (some disenfranshisements were intentional where known supporters of rival candidates forced/paid not to vote)