REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8436

Sec. 5. Board of Canvassers. — For purposes of the May 11, 1998 elections, each province, city or municipality shall have two (2) board of canvassers, one for the manual election system under the existing law, and the other, for the automated system. For the automated election system, the chairman of the board shall be appointed by the Commission from among its personnel/deputies and the members from the officials enumerated in Section 21 of Republic Act No. 6646.

Sec. 6. Authority to use an automated election system. — To carry out the above-stated policy, the Commission on Elections, herein referred to as the Commission, is hereby authorized to use an automated election system, herein referred to as the System, for the process of voting, counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation of results of the national and local elections: Provided, however, That for the May 11, 1998 elections, the System shall be applicable in all areas within the country only for the positions of president, vice-president, senators and parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system.

To achieve the purpose of this Act, the Commission is authorized to procure by purchase, lease or otherwise any supplies, equipment, materials and services needed for the holding of the elections by an expedited process of public bidding of vendors, suppliers or lessors: Provided, That the accredited political parties are duly notified of and allowed to observe but not to participate in the bidding. If, inspite of its diligent efforts to implement this mandate in the exercise of this authority, it becomes evident by February 9, 1998 that the Commission cannot fully implement the automated election system for national positions in the May 11, 1998 elections, the elections for both national and local positions shall be done manually except in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where the automated election system shall be used for all positions.

Sec. 7. Features of the system. — The System shall utilize appropriate technology for voting, and electronic devices for counting of votes and canvassing of results. For this purpose, the Commission shall acquire automated counting machines, computer equipment, devices and materials and adopt new forms and printing materials.

The System shall contain the following features:

• a. use of appropriate ballots,
• b. stand-alone machine which can count votes and an automated system which can consolidate the results immediately,
• c. with provisions for audit trails,
• d. minimum human intervention, and
• e. adequate safeguard/security measures.

In addition, the System shall as far as practicable have the following features:

• 1. It must be user-friendly and need not require computer-literate operators;
• 2. The machine security must be built-in and multi-layer existent on hardware and software with minimum human intervention using latest technology like encrypted coding system;
• 3. The security key control must be embedded inside the machine sealed against human intervention;
• 4. The Optical Mark Reader (OMR) must have a built-in printer for numbering the counted ballots and also for printing the individual precinct number on the counted ballots;
• 5. The ballot paper for the OMR counting machine must be of the quality that passed the international standard like ISO-1831, JIS-X- 9004 or its equivalent for optical character recognition;
• 6. The ballot feeder must be automatic;
• 7. The machine must be able to count from 100 to 150 ballots per minute;
• 8. The counting machine must be able to detect fake or counterfeit ballots and must have a fake ballot rejector;
• 9. The counting machine must be able to detect and reject previously counted ballots to prevent duplication;
• 10. The counting machine must have the capability to recognize the ballot's individual precinct and city or municipality before counting or consolidating the votes;
• 11. The System must have a printer that has the capacity to print in one stroke or operation seven (7) copies (original plus six (6) copies) of the consolidated reports on carbonless paper;
• 12. The printer must have at least 128 kilobytes of Random Access Memory (RAM) to facilitate the expeditious processing of the printing of the consolidated reports;
• 13. The machine must have a built-in floppy disk drive in order to save the processed data on a diskette;
• 14. The machine must also have a built-in hard disk to store the counted and consolidated data for future printout and verification;
• 15. The machine must be temperature-resistant and rust-proof;
• 16. The optical lens of the OMR must have a self-cleaning device;
• 17. The machine must not be capable of being connected to external computer peripherals for the process of vote consolidation;
• 18. The machine must have an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS);
• 19. The machine must be accompanied with operating manuals that will guide the personnel of the Commission the proper use and maintenance of the machine;
• 20. It must be so designed and built that add-ons may immediately be incorporated into the System at minimum expense;
• 21. It must provide the shortest time needed to complete the counting of votes and canvassing of the results of the election;
• 22. The machine must be able to generate consolidated reports like the election return, statement of votes and certificate of canvass at different levels; and
• 23. The accuracy of the count must be guaranteed, the margin of error must be disclosed and backed by warranty under such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Commission.

The Committee shall ensure that the testing procedure shall be unbiased and effective in checking the worthiness of the System. Toward this end, the Committee shall design and implement a reliability test procedure or a system stress test.

READ ON

• BP 881 — Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines
  
  
• RA 6646 — The Electoral Reforms Law of 1987
  
  
• RA 9006 — Fair Elections Act
  
  
• RA 9189 — The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003
  
  
• RA 7941 — The Party-List System Act
  
  
• RA 7166 — Synchronized National and Local Elections Act
  
  
• RA 9164 — Synchronized Barangay and SK Elections
  
  
• RA 8189 — Voter’s Registration Act of 1996