Comelec to Duterte: Vote padding, shaving impossible in automated polls

Former President Rodrigo Duterte —MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines —Vote padding and shaving in the upcoming polls is “impossible,” Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Monday.

Garcia made the assurance after former President Rodrigo Duterte expressed fears that such schemes may occur in the 2025 midterm polls, as relayed by his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

The former president, detained due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, is running for Davao City mayor.

READ: Ex-Pres Duterte fears election fraud in 2025 polls – VP Duterte

“We guarantee to everyone that ‘dagdag-bawas’ (vote padding and shaving) is impossible in an automated election,” Garcia said in an ambush interview at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas event with Comelec when asked to comment on Duterte’s claims.

Garcia said that since 2010, or when the Comelec shifted to automated elections, no incident of vote padding and shaving has been proven even in one precinct.

The Comelec chief also assured that this scheme would not happen during the 2025 elections due to several safeguards.

“In the 2025 NLE (national and local elections), it is easy to verify if the vote was counted and transmitted because aside from printing of election returns that will be published in front of precincts, it can be verified if the transmitted and printed votes are correct because all of the ballot images in every precinct will be shown to all watchers and citizen’s arm, and we will also conduct a random manual audit,” Garcia explained.