Breaking paradigms, making history

Prior to the automation of elections in the Philippines, it took several weeks to know the results of an election. This lead to allegations of fraud, social unrest, and violence when final results were finally announced.

To fix this, and as a way to promote transparency in electoral processes, in 2007 the Congress of the Philippines passed Law RA 9369, which made the automation of all subsequent local and national elections compulsory.

Complying with this mandate, the Electoral Commission selected a scanning technology for the May 2010 elections – which allowed for the quick and effective counting of votes. 

This electoral event is significant for Filipinos. For the first time, results were arrived at reliably, quickly, and with legitimacy, a tall order in view of the many-faceted geographical and ethnical characteristics of the country.

The capability to readily perform audits at various levels was a key factor in this process. And the advantages of our electoral solution were proven through the many field tests performed during the months leading up to the election.