Philippine election automation: an evaluation of the soundness and applicability of the automated election system in the Philippines

Abstract

The election process is a very vital component of democracy. In fact, it is considered as the heart of the democratic system because through elections, people have the power to choose the individuals who would lead their country by vesting power to them through the conduct of voting or elections. Hence, elections have always been rendered significant by democracies as a source of authority and legitimacy. The Philippines, having a democratic system of government, conducts elections in order to have leaders that would guide the country. However, for the past years of practice of manual elections in our country, it has been stigmatized with issues of violence, fraud and irregularities which prompted the Commission on Elections to adopt the process of an automated election. With the election automation, it is believed that problems affiliated with manual elections would be lessened, if not solved. To test the reliability of automated elections, the COMELEC conducted elections through the use of automation in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Moreover, the COMELEC is planning to start conducting fully automated elections hereafter, especially in the 2010 elections. In this paper, the researcher aims to conduct a study on the soundness of the automated elections in the Philippines. Since the role of elections is essential for every democracy, this research would focus on the reliability of an automated election and its applicability in the Philippine context.[Introduction]