Computerized Elections Philippine Universities' Student Councils

I am not sure if UPD is the first to implement computerized campus-wide elections with
approximately 20k voters. Pero kahit papano, nakakatuwang isipin na umuusad din kahit
papano ang teknolohiya sa mga skwelahan sa bansa.

I know sobrang mature na ang ganitong technologies lalo na sa mga developed counties.
Marami na ring softwares na ganito ang na-develop locally, lalo na sa mga theses ng mga
undergraduate students. pero at least, kahit sa school level man lang, e naging
computerized ang election sa Pilipinas, at naging matagumpay ang implementasyon nito.

The software used I think was already finished as early as 2004 as an undergrad thesis,
marami lang talagang problema sa implementation at kakulangan sa mga equipment kaya
ngayon lang natupad. In the previous elections, inaabot ng madaling araw ang casting ng
votes from the 25 colleges ng UPD, pero ngayon, 2 mins na llang tapos na ang bilangan.

If the government invested on this at least a decade ago, Filipino students could come up
with our own machines/equipment kesa naman mag-acquire pa tayo sa ibang bansa ang
masayang ang bilyong-bilyong pera dahil sa mga anomalya sa bidding at corruption sa
COMELEC.

_________________

From: http://www.upd.edu.ph/%7Eupdinfo/index02.html
USC computerized elections a success

Results released within the day.

February 25 was a big day for UP as the University Student Council (USC) conducted its
first campus-wide computerized elections at UP Diliman, with the results coming in as
early as election day.

All 25 academic units participated in this landmark project, which run on DilNet, the
fiber optic network linking the various units in the campus and serves as the University’s
gateway to the Internet.

The database from the University’s Computer Registration System (CRS) was used in the
random assignment of passwords for each registered student.

On election day itself, students were required to go to the designated voting precinct,
register, and log on using their existing student numbers and system-generated
passwords. According to Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs Elizabeth Enriquez, the
program was tweaked to enable voters to vote only on the computer laboratories of the
academic units.

The software used for the elections is called the Halalan Voting System (Halalan),
developed by students from the Linux Users Group (UNPLUG) based at the College of
Engineering (CoE).

According to UNPLUG President John Bitanga, Halalan is essentially a “relational

database system running on SUSE Linux” that was enhanced this year and migrated to
the MySQL platform for the elections. It is housed in an IBM System P5510 Express
Server, which UNPLUG had won at Software Freedom Day 2006, an annual competition
devoted to the greater use of Open Source applications for social development.

Halalan was chosen as the Best Plan for Free and Open Source Deployment Project on
the Web Server for Community Development. A prototype of the software was already
being developed as early as 2003. The program is open source, meaning that it is
available to the general public.

Campaigning officially ended at noon on February 24 and voting began at 8:30 a.m. on
election day. Voting was closely monitored by a central server in the CoE’s Department
of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. All the precincts closed by 7 p.m., and two
minutes later the results came in, proclaiming the winners.

Thirty minutes later the results for each college’s student councils were verified and
declared and before 8 p.m. people had started to go home.

According to the Office of Student Activities Coordinator Dr. Oscar P. Ferrer, the
swiftness of the proceedings took everyone by surprise, citing previous elections when
ballot counting and poll watching would last up to 4 a.m. the next day.

Nagkakaisang Iskolar para sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan (KAISA)’s Titus C.K. Tan

from the College of Science (CS) was proclaimed USC Chairperson with 4,900 votes
while Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP)’s
Jacqueline Joy J. Eroles from the Education was declared Vice-Chairperson with 4,525
votes.

All 12 new USC Councilors were led by Christopher Mariano T. Yu, an independent
candidate from the CS with 3,918 votes followed by Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral Para sa
Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (ALYANSA)’s Mario C. Jr. Ceriles from the College
of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) with 3,888 votes.

The other elected members of the council are: STAND-UP’s Katrina Nessa M. Abad
(College of Law (CL)), Muhamad Jumer C. Sali (CL), Fermina A. Agudo (National
College of Public Administration (NCPAG) and Raymond Charles V. Pestana (CFA);
ALYANSA’s Luis Jose F. Geronimo (CL), Andrea Monica V. Gonzales (CL) and
Katrina Ross P. Manzano (School of Economics (SE)); KAISA’s Brian K. Ong
(NCPAG)), Jose Leandro R. Alinea (CoE) and Lee Tomas O. Tan (CSSP).

Representatives for the individual units are as follows: Danim R. Majerano (STAND-
UP/CAL), Lester Cajegas (STAND-UP/School of Statistics), Maria Cristina P. Yambot
(Independent/CL), Jose Antonio Rafael G. Santos (College of Business Administration),
Sheena Anjeli M. Botiwey (KAISA/Asian Institute of Tourism), Teopisto B. Futalan, Jr.
(STAND-UP/School of Library and Information Studies), Eugenio M. Leynes
(KAISA/CS), Barbie Kaye B. Perez (KAISA/NCPAG), Ria Kriselda S. Dionisio
(ALYANSA/College of Music), Jo Javan A. Cerda (Independent/College of Mass
Communication), Raymund Martin C. Salvador (KAISA/College of Human Kinetics),
Ralph Andrew F. Adviento (KAISA/College of Home Economics), Rudolf Alphonse
Guibani (STAND-UP/College of Fine Arts), Francesca Cielo M. Ravanes (KAISA/CoE),
Maria Cristina Brandares (STAND-UP/College of Education), Justin Albert M. Muyot
(ALYANSA/SE), Ana Angela T. Cayabyab (STAND-UP/College of Social Work and
Community Development), Kristine C. Borja (ALYANSA/CSSP) and John Carlo
Magdalo C. Del Rosario (KAISA/College of Architecture).

Voter turnout was 42.96%, with 10,024 out of the 23,333 participating in the elections.