LENTE, PSA present random sampling software for manual audit in May 2022 polls
By Dhel Nazario
Poll watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) hosted the kickoff of the source code review and presentation of the sampling software on Monday, March 28 that will be used on the conduct of the random manual audit (RMA) for the May 2022 automated elections.

The source code review as well as the presentation of the sampling software was conducted by members of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Lente Policy Consultant Atty. Helen Graido said that the source code review is important because it serves as an opportunity to study and analyze the software that will be used in choosing the clustered precincts that will be part of the RMA.
Under Section 1 of Resolution 10738 approved by the Comelec en banc on Dec. 9, 2021, it is stated that as mandated by law, there shall be a manual audit of the precinct vote count results generated by the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) used for the election in the randomly selected precincts from each of the legislative districts in the country.
Manual audit is defined by Comelec as the visual reading and counting of votes on a paper ballot or its equivalent, without the use of a machine, and a comparison of said results to results generated by the machine count.
At least one clustered precinct, according to the resolution, in every legislative district will be randomly selected for the RMA.
The software which will be used in the upcoming May 2022 polls was created by the PSA ISACA Manila Chapter, a group of IT professionals. Graida said that in RMA, it is important to ensure that it's randomized, unbiased, and that there's no personal preference in the system of choosing the precincts. She explained that the process in choosing the clustered precincts employs a scientific approach as well as a computation.
There will be a RMA Committee (RMAC) which shall be tasked to oversee the RMA and ensure that it proceeds in a safe, efficient, transparent, participative and credible manner.
It will be composed of representatives of the Consolidation Canvassing System Operator (CCSO), PSA and Comelec. The CCSO representative shall serve as the chairperson of the RMAC as determined by its members. The RMA will start not later than five days after the election day and shall be held at a venue within the National Capital Region (NCR) to be determined by the RMAC.
It is also stated in the resolution that the results of the RMA "in no way" will delay the proclamation of the winning candidates based on the results reached by the automated election system (AES).