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Source acquired via Philstar, April 23, 2010, Manila, Philippines – When it comes to political polling, Manila isn’t taking any chances with possible tampering. On April 28, 2010, 7,555 Precinct Court Optical Scan machines will make a semi-long voyage from the current warehouse where they are stored to various polling stations throughout Manila. In order to avoid any unscheduled stops, all of the police patrol trucks that are being used to transport the machines will be tracked with a GPS tracker.

GPS & Elections

If any unscheduled stop is made, those police officers monitoring the patrol cars will be able to react in a timely manner. Those police officers who have been asked to transport the polling machines are all part of the National Capital Regional Police Office strike force, though anything can happen when it comes to political elections. In addition to being equipped with GPS trackers, every police officer involved in transporting the ballot machines will be armed with firearms and digital trunk radios.

The Manila police force has assured the public that “keeping the PCOS machines and the ballots safe and secured is just one of our many tasks so that we could have an honest, orderly and peaceful elections here in Metro Manila.” With the help of GPS trackers, keeping control over the polling machines as they move from area to area will be easier than it has been in the past. This is the first time that automatic polling will take place in Manila, and many believe that implementing this system could be dangerous.

In the past, politicians in Manila have been elected through “guns, goons and gold (CBS News).” The electronic polling stations are meant to prevent any tampering, though many residents are unsure that this will actually work. In previous years, numerous politicians and voters alike have been massacred due to political beliefs. While the installation of GPS tracking systems and heavily armed guards may prevent anyone from tampering with polling machine, preventing murders based upon political beliefs is another story altogether.

The world will watch and wait nervously as Manila heads to the polling booths this May. As the May 10^th date approaches, all eyes are on the transport of the new polling machines. While the polling machines may arrive at polling stations unharmed, many hope that residents of Manila will remain unharmed as well.