"Fear is the greater danger to automation," Commission on Elections Spokesman James Jimenez said today, reacting to the System Trustworthiness, Accountability and Readiness (STAR) Scorecard recently released by the group Automated Election Watch (AES Watch).

"Despite the fears articulated by AES Watch, however, the May 10, 2010 National and Local Elections will be automated, "Jimenez reassured the public. However, Jimenez also indicated that the COMELEC would be able to respond more comprehensively to the warnings given by AES Watch, as soon as the poll body received a copy of the scorecard and a detailed explanation for each of the marks given.

"It's important," Jimenez said, "to know for certain how the COMELEC was evaluated for each of these 20 items, and not just what the final evaluation was. The final evaluation might turn out to be very misleading."

Jimenez cited as an example of a potentially misleading rating the "Failed" mark AES Watch gave the COMELEC in the source code category. "AES Watch says that the COMELEC failed to make the source code available for review," Jimenez explained. "The truth is, the source code is being reviewed by a trusted third party certifying authority and once it has been certified, the code will be available for review. So how can that be a failure?"

Jimenez further clarified that the poll body remained open to the concerns and fears of various groups, but called on these groups to work with the COMELEC more closely instead of undermining public confidence in the coming automated polls.

"We are steadily moving towards an automated electoral exercise in May 2010, and the best way to solve problems now is to work with the COMELEC as implementor of these automated elections," Jimenez said. "This is a better approach than to stir up public apprehension when we could be working together for the betterment of the electoral system." ###