During the team test, members of both political parties harassed people in the JRVs at polling stations. In addition, there is pressure from the president of the TSE, proposed by GANA, to discontinue the use of technology. Electoral technicians reject it.
A magistrate and a technician from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) noted that since the implementation of the computer equipment for the February 28 elections, several events have taken place trying to block the use of technology.
These attempts were compounded with the start of the election campaign and with last weekend’s test, when members of Nuevas Ideas and GANA harassed members of the Voting Reception Boards (JRV) in various voting centers.
“The presence of them (New Ideas) at the voting centers was general, but in social networks the ones most seen were those of San Salvador, because of the media coverage, but we do have a report that they were present. New Ideas and GANA) in many polling stations, not so in other political parties. It was precisely to harass people, with the aim of spreading false news and influencing the credibility of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in the process it is conducting, ”said the official, preferring to omit his name for security reasons.
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The events against the use of technology took place due to actions by both sides associated with Nayib Bukele’s government, who have questioned the effectiveness of the team. This view is also reflected in statements by TSE President Dora Esmeralda Martínez, who said she would propose to the collegiate body to revert to the manual form. In addition, GANA Party Deputy Mario Tenorio asked the Electoral Reform Commission on Feb. 8 for a suspension of the use of technology.
Magistrate Guillermo Wellman attended the Electoral Commission, which assured that the election process will be transparent and reliable. Switching to a manual count is impossible, Congressman (Mario Tenorio). Why? We are not in time to make changes at this point (…) the only thing that will change in this election process is nothing more than the count at the JRV with a laptop, ”said Wellman.
He added that the projection of the duration of the count is 7 hours and claimed that if it starts at 5 p.m., they will end at 12 with the count of the three elections, according to a report from the International Foundation. for Electoral Systems (Ifes), presented by the magistrate.
He also defended himself against allegations of alleged fraud. “I did not know that position that the president (Nayib Bukele) gave me as leader of the fraud, but I want to tell you that I do not accept the position,” the magistrate said in committee.
While the TSE technician, unwilling to identify himself for fear of retaliation, said the president of the collegiate entity has contradicted the use of technology.
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“When you listen to the statements of the president (of the TSE) she says at one point ‘I want the check to be done manually’ but on the other hand she says the tabletop technology system works, it’s like a contradiction because when the technology is on the table, as she says, because she has to get it used and not ask to do it manually over and over again, ‘says another source.
He adds that the blockade of the use of technology was reinforced with the election campaign, where they believe there could be political interests behind it, which aim to demonstrate a malfunction of the technology by slowing down the processes.
Looking forward to today’s exercise
At the gates of a mock election, the TSE makes the logistics equipment of the technology, coordinates the staffing, voting start and logistics within the centers so that a successful transmission test is given, expecting to overcome the mistakes that happened during the test.
TSE sources note that those responsible for the technology operation think it is ready to use, and if it proceeds with the manual form, the Court has no time or budget. They also believe this would be a setback, as even the political parties in other elections have complained about the use of chemical paper that did not make the minutes faithful and would also require printed material for verification.
“We don’t have that at the moment and we don’t have a budget. We should also have those pages of minutes that the political parties complained, by the way, because since it is a chemical paper, only the first three copies (of the minutes) are viewed and the rest read nothing anymore. But above all, we have to train the JRV members to perform the check manually. It’s a cumbersome process that needs to be explained to people and we don’t have time to train that way. It is more than a solution, it is a complication, ”explains the TSE technician on the return to the manual.
Technology works
Malcolm Cartagena, an electoral expert, believes the technology works. “We’ve seen the program work, people are trained on the team and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has already trained more than 60,000 people. And it is not possible that now, 15 days before the election, there will be an attempt to remove that when not only has money been invested but it is mainly invested in preparing human resources, I think it would be decent disastrous to try to train the 80,000 people so that they would know how to count on sheets of paper again, ”he says.
He thinks the next step is to correct the errors that appear in today’s simulation and one more before the election, because there is time to correct but not change.
“In the exercises, those who have to observe this, the guarantee of the safety of the team, are only the people who have been summoned by the court. In an exercise, as it is an internal activity of the Court, only the person sued is allowed to operate the equipment, not someone else to disrupt or replace and use the equipment, ”explains Cartagena.
Proof
On Sunday, February 7, the TSE conducted a test of the technology, which resulted in insurmountable failures. Political parties GANA, New Ideas and CD talked about the technology not working and even fraud, the court technician said, regretting the government’s endorsement of these baseless statements.
Another goal on the day of the test was to measure the logistical use of moving the equipment nationwide, both in delivery times and in the collection of materials.
They would also see the performance of the people in the JRVs who were trained. “This is clearly a new challenge for the Court, we did not bring technology to the table on a previous occasion and now it means moving from 1,595 teams in the last election to 8,452 teams using the tables plus contingency teams.” Says the source.
For the development of the software, the TSE worked with personnel from the country and no company was hired. These challenges prompted the Court to appoint a technical computing committee to lead the project on the use of technology.
But “members of this committee have gone through a process to block the work done, and especially in the last two months to hinder the progress of that process,” said the TSE engineer.
One of the members of the committee was the coordinator of the team, proposed by the chairman of the TSE, who was suspended for wanting to block the process of using the technology during the test, the source says.
Barriers to the implementation of technology on the table have delayed the TSE, and some of them occurred last Sunday. The court would run tests since December 2020.
“The intention is to create a curtain for false information around the court, and this is dangerous because all participants feel violated or threatened if there is no security in the process, and by spreading this false news, they create fear among the participants and this does not pay us as an institution ”, says the source.
He adds that in the simulation they hope that these parties will allow people to operate the technology without the harassment they were exposed to in the previous test, as they are people who have been trained by the TSE and are in the process of using it. of technology. . On this occasion, the members of Nuevas Ideas and GANA tried to impersonate the JRV members when they attempted to manipulate the team.
“People with party identification arrived at the voting centers and I’m not talking about all parties, I’m talking specifically about two parties, GANA and New Ideas, and they came up with the spirit of not contributing to the process, but of pressure. on the JRV members. who ran the test and made them feel bad because the JRV members are not system engineers, but what we need to know how to use that technology is to know how to use a mobile use a phone, in other words enough to understand the logic of technology and register the ballots, ”he explains.
“We have information that in some voting centers (members of Nuevas Ideas and GANA) they used the technology and sat down to run tests on the equipment. We had this problem at the Concha Viuda de Escalón voting center. I think there are even pictures on social networks of how they harassed a young lady operating the application on the computer. There is another center where the members of the JRV felt so bothered that they decided to resign, ”said the TSE source.
He hopes that those present will respect the people in the JRVs and stop putting pressure on them. It also calls on the National Civil Police (PNC) to maintain order.
He points out that all voting centers are reporting all events during the tests, and on Sunday some reported that there were instances where PNC agents sat down to use the technology equipment, where it must be the technical support to support the JRV.
Commission lock
TSE sources note that the amount of technology the Court will use for the election is high. “In making these (blocking) decisions, special interests may play a role in the background,” says the source, in the case of two members of the IT committee who oppose decisions about the purchase of the equipment and its operation. .
The TSE source says the court has followed the parameters of the Public Administration Procurement and Contracts Act (LACAP) in procurement processes.
The members of the committee who opposed the technology and who blocked decisions in the committee suggested other routes before purchasing the equipment that were not endorsed by the entire committee, so they started the work of the TSE.
According to one source, these people were looking for equipment suppliers and those who would provide maintenance. “There may be other obligations,” he says.
One part that was not fully evaluated by the TSE was the connectivity of the transmission infrastructure, where they improved the software that will facilitate the work on transmission.
They have also strengthened the technical support of those who will operate the equipment in the polling stations to be aware of any difficulties that arise on the voting day, where there will be two people per polling station. In the larger centers, he stated that there will be one person responsible for every 10 JRVs.