Santo Domingo.- A discreet cybernetics war cast a shadow on the hours previous and during Sunday’s elections, prompting the Electoral Central Board, JCE, to erect its technological shield and avert manipulation of its data transmission.
During an inspection of all scanners to be sent to the polling centers and the municipal boards a JCE official uncovered one which had been tampered with, a “sabotage” of a key piece of equipment which could’ve put into question the transparency of the entire data transmission process.
A source quoted by listin.com.do said just 10 days before the polls Informatics Center technicians Luis Leger and Alfredo Soler informed JCE president Roberto Rosario of the sabotage, and although it wasn’t immediately determined who was behind it, the ensuing investigation established that the last time the scanner was used was during a test in the Informatics Management Center.
The source said Rosario instructed Leger and Soler to not discuss the incident, since it was believed that the Informatics Management Center’s officials weren’t aware of the infiltration.
The source added that among the tactics used by the JCE was to leave things as they were until Thursday May 17, three days to the elections, as not to raise suspicions.
One of the specialists who worked closely in the installation of the scanners, quoted by listin.com.do, affirmed that the malicious reprogramming of one or several of them sought the collapse of the data transmission, since the system’s failure to recognize the text on the voting table affidavits would mean that a blank document would arrive at the Informatics Center.