[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 62 (Thursday, April 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           CONCERNS ABOUT THE PHILIPPINE AUTOMATED ELECTIONS

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                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 2010

  Mr. HONDA. Madam Speaker, on May 10, 2010, the Republic of the 
Philippines will undergo historic elections in its budding democracy. 
These elections mark the first fully automated national elections to 
determine the fates of over 85,000 candidates for some 17,000 national 
and local seats, including that of the President and Vice President. 
With such a large ballot of candidates and the challenge of polling 
across a nation of over 7,000 islands, the benefits of an automated 
system are apparent.
  These automated elections, however, are not flawless. Automated 
voting is not guaranteed to eliminate fraud and error, but seeks to 
minimize them. Additional independent systems should be in place to 
ensure transparency and validity across the entire election process 
and, in particular, over the electronic voting systems themselves. 
Especially troubling are the reports that the new voting system has 
never been fully tested in the Philippines, which reinforces the need 
for a contingency plan in case of voting machine failures. In fact, the 
National Democratic Institute and other international observers have 
already expressed similar concerns about these upcoming automated 
elections.
  The Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has the daunting 
task of administering these elections, and would do well to heed the 
bitter lessons that the United States learned from the controversies 
surrounding our electronic voting machines during recent elections. 
While still working to improve our election process, we also recognize 
the importance of mending the public confidence. Public confidence in 
any form of government is paramount to its success, and this is 
especially true for any democracy--Philippine and American. Again, I 
urge COMELEC to establish necessary transparency and validation 
mechanisms that will earn the confidence of the Filipino people to 
ensure that their constitutional right was fairly exercised. I look 
forward to these historic democratic elections and hope that they will 
result in a confident and peaceful transition of government.

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