Ex-Comelec Chief Jose Melo, Who Oversaw First Automated Polls, dies

Jose Melo, the Commission on Elections chairman who oversaw the country’s transition to automated voting, has passed away, the poll body’s spokesperson said Sunday.

Melo died at the age of 88, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a tweet on late Sunday night.

As head of the poll body, Melo oversaw the Philippines’ transition to full election automation from 2008 to 2010, which saw the rise to the presidency of then Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Melo was appointed to Comelec in 2008 by Aquino’s predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He resigned from the post in 2011, instead of finishing his 7-year term. He was succeeded by Sixto Brillantes, who also died this year last Aug. 11.

Prior to serving in the poll body, Melo was an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2002.