Is the AES ready?

COMPLETED last Friday, December 3, was the trusted build conducted by international certification entity Pro V&V of Huntsville Alabama, USA via Zoom and livestreamed via the Facebook page and YouTube channel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Trusted build is a process through which the automated election system (AES) software, written by programmers in a human-readable programming language or the source code, is converted into a format that can be executed by a computer; also referred to as machine code. Prior to the trusted build, the various software to be used with the different components of the AES — the election management system, the vote counting machines, the canvassing and consolidation system and other related programs developed by the vendor, Smartmatic — was reviewed by Pro V&V to verify if it complied with the requirements defined in Republic Act (RA) 8436 as amended by RA 9369 or the law that authorized the Comelec to use an AES for the conduct of the country's national and local elections. The trusted build process also generates the unique signature of each piece of software; also known as hash codes, which the poll body will publish on its website. Pro V&V will also deliver a report on its findings and issue a certification that the software complies with the requirements provided by law.