Comelec Chairman Jose Melo admits to having sleepless nights these days. As the head of the agency tasked to oversee anything that has to do with the upcoming elections, Melo is a little bit concerned over the delays. Reports say Smartmatic-TIM will not be able to follow the agreed delivery schedule.

Here's an excerpt from an abs-cbnnews.com report.

The Commission on Elections on Monday said automation provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management will be unable to send half of the 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for the 2010 elections by year-end.

In an interview, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said Smartmatic-TIM officials will only be able to send 30,000 PCOS machines by the end of the month, instead of the 42,000 initially agreed on. "I want more," Melo said.

Smartmatic acknowledges the delays but assures that all 82,200 PCOS machines will be delivered in time for the elections in May. The company assures that production is in full swing and approximately 5,000 machines will be shipped this week.

Lest there be conspiracy theories over this, the delays are not exactly Smartmatic's fault. For one it was not Smartmatic who filed the case at the Supreme Court, which sought to block the awarding of the automation contract to Smartmatic-TIM. That case, which was junked by the Supreme Court last September, delayed the whole poll automation project by at least one month.

(Read up on the court decision here.)

Mother Nature also caused some delays. Successive typhoons battered Taiwan where production of the machines was supposed to be done. This forced Smartmatic to transfer production to China.

Despite all these, Smartmatic projected the completion of about 40,000 machines by the end of the month. However, another obstacle has pushed back the delivery date.

As witnessed and reported by COMELEC's representatives to China, production is in full swing and compliant with the highest quality standards. We are shipping this week approx 5,000 machines already, and although 40,000 machines will have been produced by the end of the year, all shipping lines have reached full capacity due to the increased holiday traffic. Therefore, the final delivery in Manila will be guaranteed during the first two weeks of January. For the rest of the machines, periodical deliveries will be done before Feb 21, a week before the deadline agreed upon in the contract.

But, according to the same abs-cbnnews.com report cited above, the company will be able to send 30,000 machines by the end of the month.