THE Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) is infamous for election cheating. In fact, it's called the "cheating fields of the Philippines". If a candidate who's running for a national position is hell bent on winning, all he or she has to do is "seek" the votes from Armm and, voila, you are a sure winner.
In fact, one senator is dubbed as the "senator from Maguindanao" for garnering votes more than the number of actual voters in the province in the 2007 elections.
But the August 11, 2008 Armm elections is unlike any other elections in the history of the region and even the country. For one, it is the first-ever automated election in the country's history. Second it achieved the fastest canvassing ever, from the usual three weeks counting of ballots, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finished it up in three days.
Thanks to the electronic voting machines like the optical mark reader and the direct recording electronic system that made voting in Armm a breeze.
Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datumanong expressed satisfaction on the automated election, saying it usually took him three to five minutes to cast his vote in the manual elections. But with the automation, Datumanong said it just took him one and a half minutes from registering to the actual voting.
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