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Information technology experts on Thursday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to shift to a hybrid form of election system for the next national elections.
National Citizens鈥� Movement for Free Elections president Gus Lagman called the current automated election system a 鈥渟ecret counting鈥� as it is 鈥渘ot transparent to the voters鈥� because poll results were automated and processed by the machine.
鈥淲hen we automated the precinct counting, we not only made it much easier to cheat, but we made it more difficult to detect cheating,鈥� Lagman told reporters during the Pandesal Forum.
The former Comelec commissioner said the poll body should instead use a hybrid system for the next elections, where a manual ballot count is to be done in precincts and canvassing of votes will be automated. 鈥擪ATHLEEN DE VILLA