Ominous signs of automated failure of the elections?

Archbishop emeritus Oscar Cruz expressed alarm over signs that point to a failure of the poll automation project of the Commission on Elections. In an interview yesterday, Cruz says these signs point to a possible failure of the forthcoming May 10,2010 elections:

1. Failure of the optimal counting machines to actually count and render as input properly shaded readable election papers feeded into the Taiwan-made machines.

2. The apparent failure of the information campaign by the Comelec. Until now, teachers are clueless on the technical and non-technical aspects of the poll automation project.

3. Absence of 50,000 IT technicians which the Smartmatic consortium and even the Comelec said would be hired for the elections.

4. Hacking of government sites.

The former head of the diocese of Lingayen Pangasinan says these signs point to a possible failure of the project and asked the Comelec to rectify its actions immediately.

I remember my good friend Joey de Venecia III, the pioneer in advanced telecommunications and IT here in the Philippines, as having warned us of the possible automated failure of the elections.

Joey de Venecia III in previous statements, already gave his prognosis on the project. He favors selective application of the automation since he already foresaw the logistical and technical problems or improbabilities that this project would entail.

For the sake of the country, Comelec should immediately assess its capabilities and rectify if possible since the elections are just a few months away.