Officers from Alhambra Eidos contracted by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) to audit the automated voting machines admitted that the system can be accessed via the QR code reader. The QR code reader captures ID cards. Alhambra Eidos officers argue that if such an anomaly takes place, it is a weakness of the electoral staff at the tables that allows this, not of the automated system.
Delegates from political parties attended the presentation by Alhambra Eidos yesterday. Alhambra Eidos responded to a question by Van Elder Espinal, delegate of the Social Democratic Institutional Bloc, who asked if the system could read the data from a cell phone image.
“Like all QR Code readers, if the image is clear, the reader will recognize it as happens in airports. We are here to evaluate technological processes, not human events. For those situations, I understand that there is a president of each polling station who is in charge of watching over the voting. I also believe that the use of cell phones is prohibited,” said Guillermo Amodeo, auditor for Alhambra Eidos.
Participacion Ciudadana, the civic watchdog organization had reported that fraudulent operations were carried out with the capture of IDs using the QR code reader to capture a cell phone image during the 6 October 2019 primaries. The general coordinator for Participación Ciudadana, Heiromy Castro, says the Alhambra Eidos admission validates the complaint PC had presented on what happened during the 6 October primaries.
The presidential candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Luis Abinader, recalled that the PRM had already warned about this and the importance of it being corrected by the JCE. To correct this situation, the JCE, at the request of opposition political parties, has added a fingerprint reader and fingerprint inking to the voting system. Orlando Jorge Mera, delegate for the Modern Revolutionary Party, the leading opposition party, has expressed confidence this would oblige the person to be present to vote.
Meanwhile, at the time of the first meeting with the political parties, Alhambra Eidos had practically cleared the automated voting system in a sample of 250 machines. The contracted auditors said that none of the units had a program that was different than that stipulated by the JCE in the 6 October 2019 primary.
The company said they would deliver their complete review on 31 January 2020. Alhambra Eidos is reviewing a sample of 370 machines.
Also present for the presentation were delegates of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), the National Unity Party (PUN) and Alianza Pais (AlPais). Missing was the delegate for the People’s Force, the political party that now has former President Leonel Fernández as its presidential candidate. Fernández split from the PLD alleging widespread fraud led to his losing the PLD presidential election during the 6 October 2019 primary. He demanded a forensic audit of the automated voting system. But after months elapsed, he said that the Alhambra audit would only serve to legitimize the electoral fraud.
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El Dia
El Nuevo Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
20 January 2020