MANILA - A voter needs almost 8 minutes to fill up the ballot to be used in the country's first automated elections in May 2010, initial results of a time-and-motion study conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other groups revealed Friday.

Students of the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan, Batangas on Friday participated in a mock poll in their school to test the electronic ballots to be used in the actual 2010 elections. A total of 1,000 2nd year to 4th year college students, all of voting age, used improvised ballots which had the names of 339 possible candidates for 32 electoral positions in the 2010 elections.

The mock poll is a joint project of Youth Vote Philippine, Former Senior Government Officials, Comelec and Politicalarena.com.

Organizers said the time-and-motion study is meant to determine how long it would take a person to fill up the ballot. This, in turn, would help Comelec determine if 11 hours is enough for an estimated 1,000 voters per clustered precinct to cast their ballots on election day.

"We will find out the actual average of all the voting times. This will help us determine if 11 hours is enough time for all voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots," Mildred Ople of Youth Vote Philippines said.

A TV Patrol World report said each student averaged about 7 minutes and 51 seconds or almost eight minutes to fill up the ballot, according to initial results of the time-and-motion study. One first-time voter said he was thrilled to use the new ballots, which only required voters to shade a circle beside the name of the candidate of their choice.

"I now have a glance or preview on how to vote in the elections," he said.

Organizers said the results showed that voting stations should allow at least 12 voters to fill up their ballots simultaneously to allow all 1,000 voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots before precincts close.

A brownout was also simulated during the mock poll to show if it would affect the process. During the actual election day, technology consortium Smartmatic-TIM is expected to provide generators to provide backup power.

The Comelec is expected to conduct a mock election using the Smartmatic-TIM machines on the second week of December.

Several groups earlier criticized Comelec for not conducting proper time-and-motion studies before approving the poll automation contract with Smartmatic-TIM. With a report from Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News


as of 09/19/2009 2:20 AM