Comelec to count votes even with shading of only 15% of ballot circle
MANILA, Philippines — Starting this 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will count the votes even those with 15 percent shade of the circle on their ballot.
Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said this unprecedented move was approved during the poll body en banc’s regular session on Wednesday.
“The commission en banc was satisfied with the explanation as to the 15 percent [threshold],” Garcia said in a press conference in Palacio del Gobernador after the en banc session.
“Therefore, for the election of 2025, our threshold is now at 15 percent,” he also said.
The threshold refers to the minimum amount of shading adopted by the Comelec for the voting machines to recognize as a valid vote.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to the test conducted by Comelec’s project management, Garcia noted that the vote-counting machine scanners could detect the new threshold.
Article continues after this advertisement“One blot of the pen to be used this election is already almost at 20 percent [threshold],” he noted.
Previously, the lowest shade threshold was at 25 percent. Less than that, the vote would be considered as “ambiguous.”
Now, Garcia said it’s either “vote” or “no vote.”
However, he still urged the 68 million registered voters to try to shade the entire circle, noting that the machines will still count their vote even if it exceeded the circle’s boundary.
READ: Comelec says stamps may replace pens in future elections
Disputes on ballot shadings became the cause of electoral protests before.
The most notable case involved President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos and former Vice President Leni Robredo, who both claimed that they won the 2016 vice presidential elections.
Marcos launched an electoral protest that led to a massive recount by the Supreme Court, which is sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, eventually favoring Robredo.