Philippines to Relay Vote Tallies by Cell Phone Text Messaging

As the Philippines prepares for next week's general election, an independent vote counting body is preparing to relay its tallies by tapping into the country's fondness for text messaging, reports the The Voice of America.

"The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) has a new method for quickly counting votes that it said will speed up the process and help eliminate cheating and errors.

Starting on election day next Monday, volunteers at the country's 216,000 precincts will send in precinct results by sending text messages on mobile phones.

The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections Secretary General Bill Luz said that the organization aims to have one registered "texter" to handle every three precincts. They will use special phones registered with the group's headquarters in Manila, so the numbers they send can be authenticated.

The group will check the text messaging tallies against a printed copy of the returns. Once a match is confirmed, the results will be posted."

emily | 7:07 PM | SMS and Politics |
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