Gordon: We are on the eve of electoral greatness

With the Automated Elections system ready for the ARMM polls on August 11, Senator Richard Gordon called it the eve of electoral greatness as the COMELEC concluded a dry run test of the systems through a series of simulated polls using both the Optical Mark Reader and Direct Recording Electronic types of automated election systems yesterday.

Gordon authored the Amended Automated Elections Law or Republic Act 9369 which calls for the pilot testing of automated election systems in six cities and six provinces prior to its implementation in a national election - the next being the 2010 elections. Its pilot testing during the 2007 National Elections had been stonewalled by the Comelec, then headed by former Chairman Benjamin Abalos. Undeterred and unwilling to take no for an answer, Gordon steadily pushed for the pilot testing of the Automated Election system during the ARMM elections and succeeded.

"We are on the eve of electoral greatness and with the Automated Elections Systems now in place, we will hear our democracy speak the truth - clearly and quickly. We will finally see the end of a lack of closure in our political exercises, where even as the counting of votes is concluded no clear winner emerges as opposing camps hurl accusations of cheating against each other. We will see COMELEC redeem itself from its former image to a true guardian of our people's right to suffrage. It is our most fervent hope, that the Automated Election system will lead us out of this era of transactional politics to an era of transformational politics," said Gordon.

"Redemption may be a keyword as we see the COMELEC implement automated elections in the ARMM. The ARMM has been labeled in the past as a perennial election hotspot and where supposedly a lot of the cheating takes place. If the automated elections system works in ARMM, it can work anywhere in the country and we can move forward with greater confidence to a time when we can have the results of our national elections within hours - not months or weeks," said Gordon.