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Test makes sure poll results will be released smoothly
The Colombo University School of Computing (CUSC) is all geared up to release all election results in collaboration with the Department of Elections, its Director-General, Professor Gihan Wikramanayake said.The school has appointed more than 70 lecturers and administrative staff members to issue all results to media and other institutions as soon as they come in to the CUSC. The Director-General said a pilot project was carried out yesterday to ensure that the results were released without any difficulty.
“We have to be 100 per cent certain that the work will flow smoothly. So we did it once yesterday to see that the institutions that are registered with us would get the information,” said Prof. Wikramanayake.The procedure for issuing the results is well planned. Results released from the counting centres from electoral districts around the island will be faxed to the Department of Elections, and from there a copy will be obtained by the School of Computing officers who will feed the information into their computers and obtain verification from the Elections Commissioner.
“Only after the Elections Commissioner verifies and signs a document will we release it to the official website of the Department of Elections,” Prof. Wikramanayake said. The CUSC has introduced an SMS system this year. Before the release of a result an SMS alert will be sent to the 20-odd media stations registered with it, stating that the result is about to be published on the Department of Elections website. Another SMS will be sent after the publication. “This way people will not have to wait and constantly check their computer systems for updates,” the Director General said.
Mr. Wikramanayake said the work was not easy as there are many political parties and individual groups contesting this year. Twelve political parties and 24 independent groups, with a total of more than 6,000 candidates, are contesting tomorrow’s election. The CUSU has been involved in the live release of results in all major elections since 1982.