In preparation for the elections this May 9, Namfrel has released an app to help people check for any irregularities during the transmission of votes.
The Namfrel app, which can be downloaded on both Android and iOS, is built to measure bandwidth and allows voters to submit pictures of election returns.
Fernando Contreras Jr., national council member of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) explained the app is “a crowdsourcing application which aims to engage the public to participate in helping in protecting and making the election process more transparent.”
According to Contreras, bandwidth is important because, “One of the changes that will be implemented this election is the change of carrier network from 3G to 4G. While this should result in improvement, any changes done to a system will present variables and potential challenges. NAMFREL wants to gather data on bandwidth in polling locations in order to assist in providing visibility to the 4G network nationwide from a user's perspective.”
“One of the changes that will be implemented this election is the change of carrier network from 3G to 4G,” Contreras said. “While this should result in improvement, any changes done to a system will present variables and potential challenges.”
According to Contreras, “on the 3G network, the unique private IP address was provided per Vote Counting Machine (VCM) and the shift to 4G will remove this uniqueness. With this shift we are hoping to have a faster and less transmission failure rate. From the low 90s we are hoping that this election will achieve high 90s, in percentage, of direct VCM transmission.”
Namfrel’s main objective is data gathering and reporting. However, if they receive reports of areas with low bandwidth measurements, Contreras said they would be willing to share this information to Comelec, if needed.
Anyone can download the app to send pictures of election returns. As of this writing, Contreras said around 3,000 have downloaded the Namfrel app.
The Namfrel app itself is straightforward and easy to use. There are clear instructions in both English and Tagalog, which users can follow.
“NAMFREL app intends to engage the masses to assist in helping protect the integrity and improve transparency of the voting process,” Contreras said. “There are two pieces of information that we would like to request from people who would be using the app. First, prior to the election, bandwidth information near the polling place and more importantly, after the closing of polls, the pictures of the Election Returns (ERs). The Election Return is an important source of information that can be seen and protected by the public. The first eight copies of ER are printed immediately after the closing of polls prior to transmission. One of these should be posted by the Electoral Board (EB) outside the precinct for people to see. Once we capture a picture of the ER, we preserve it already and no matter where the electronic version of the ER is sent, we have protection. NAMFREL is only asking the top and bottom portion of the ER. The ER is a long form, around 3 1/2 feet. We are asking those who would download the app to take pictures of the top and bottom portion. There is a sample in the app which part to take pictures of. We would like to invite everyone to participate in protecting our votes and be vigilant.”
“This app is NAMREL's small way to continue engaging the public to participate not only in voting but protecting our votes,” Contreras said.
You can download the Namfrel app at the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.