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MANILA – A US-based election solutions company that was targeted by US President Donald Trump for allegedly changing the vote in recently concluded US polls, maintained that its voting systems are credible and Accurate as the Philippine Elections Commission (Comelec) began its series of online consultations on Tuesday. voting for some 2 million Filipino voters abroad.
Immediately following confirmation by the U.S. Electoral College of President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory, Dominion Voting Systems, represented by its Director of International Business, Dallas Newby, and Internet Voting Specialist / Sales Manager regional, Stephen Beamish, cleared the air by addressing the US Polls Control Controversy before beginning his virtual presentation to Comelec and local poll stakeholders.
“The first thing I would like to do is address some of the [reports] in the media that some of you may have been exposed to or seen. We are truly disappointed that some unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations detracted from the performance of what were the safest elections in US history, ”Newby said.
In a series of tweets, Trump accused Dominion of eliminating about 2.7 million votes across the country.
“This is GREAT NEWS. The Dominion voting machines are a disaster across the country. It changed the results of a landslide election. I can’t let this happen … “Trump tweeted Tuesday.
Newby responded to the claim, emphasizing that the post-survey audit showed the accuracy of its systems.
“The United States has the strongest systems in the world for reconciliation, accounting and auditing. And we are comforted by the fact that these processes are used and are an important part of every election, and that they maintained the results and accuracy of the systems that were used, “he said.
“These events are really important because they serve to remind us how fragile and important democracy is and the important roles that everyone who is gathered here, the people there, plays in democracy. And we are proud and comforted by the fact that all the audits, all the reconciliations confirmed the results that our systems produced, ”he added.
“This is our business; we know it and we know it well. “
On Monday, the Electoral College shut down Trump’s campaign to reverse the results, as California turned over its 55 electoral votes to Biden, thus placing him above the 270 electoral votes needed.
THE PUSH FOR THE ONLINE VOA
Dominion is one of four election solutions firms submitting their respective systems to the Philippine electoral body, as the push to allow online voting for Filipinos abroad gains steam again.
The other firms that plan to make presentations to Comelec and the interest groups in the survey are Indra, Smartmatic and Voatz.
Founded in 2003 and with a record 2,500 clients worldwide, Dominion first participated in the Philippine elections in 2010. It owns the source code for Automated Electoral Systems (AEV), which used counting optical scanning machines. electoral districts (PCOS).
In order for the Philippines to abseil online voting abroad, Congress has to amend the Absentee Voting Abroad Act (RA 9189, as amended by RA 10590) which only allows personal voting and registration foreign embassies, consulates and service stations, as well as voting and registration by mail.
Dominion said that its voting systems have the following characteristics:
- provide safeguards for voter identification and verification;
- a voter review feature that allows a voter to change their vote before finally casting it;
- complete voter list and credentials, voter activity log and reporting system; and,
- a role-based administration management system that compartmentalizes access and authorization codes according to the role of the election official or staff
“From scratch, security is created throughout the entire process. And it has to include physical security, data security … It’s a multi-layered security approach, ”said Beamish, who led the run demo.
The system can also be customized according to the specifications provided in the online OAV law to be approved.
Beamish said his system can work even with low bandwidth, which is ideal for Filipino seafarers at sea.
“Your polling place is wherever you are in the world. As long as you have access to the Internet, as long as you have access to your browser, you will have access to your vote. “
BIOMETRY AND VOTER SECRET
The Dominion system does not provide a biometric feature in its voter verification.
Newby and Beamish explained that the jurisdictions that have used their services do not include the function of preserving the secrecy of voters.
“The system, as we use it in Canada and the United States, does not collect biometric data. So there is no biometric voter verification built into the system that we are demonstrating today. That’s because there is no legal basis for collecting biometric data prior to voting in these jurisdictions, “Newby said.
“If we were to work in the Philippines and this was a regulatory requirement, we would have to work with one of our partners in biometrics to do this,” he added.
“We will be cautious in choosing to do this because collecting biometrics and collecting a vote implies that at some point, there may be an association between biometrics and voting, either an actual association or simply an association perceived in the mind of the individual. voter, that’s a function of technology, but it should be considered carefully. “
Newby admitted that under his system, there is no way to prevent someone else from voting in place of a particular voter as long as the credentials entered are accurate.
However, it emphasized that Dominion may restrict or limit the use of the IP address as part of security measures.
Comelec spokesman and head of the Department of Education and Information (EID), James Jiménez, said the en banc commission has yet to decide whether to include biometrics.
“At this point, Comelec is still not one hundred percent of what we will need. That is precisely the purpose of this query, it is to see what works and what might not work in the Filipino environment … But at this point, it is not something that we can say with certainty that it will be part of the wish list, so to speak, of Comelec for a system like this. But it is certainly being considered, ”Jiménez said.
The director of Comelec’s Foreign Voting Office (OFOV), Sonia Bea Lozada, explained that the solution provider will be mandated to meet certain specifications, which may include biometrics.
“Voter verification, that part, can actually be determined by our legislation. So what Dominion, or the vendor providing the voting system, will conform to our legal requirement. “
The online FVO can be implemented starting in 2022 if Congress can pass a law no later than March 2021.
“Based on our internal deadlines, if a law is passed in the first quarter of next year, we can have [online OAV] in 2022. But beyond that, we can have it in 2025, “said the official.
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Comelec, Elections Commission, Absentee Voting Abroad, OAC, Online Voting, Domain Voting Systems, US Elections
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