Meycauayan voters: Shaded ballots not being fed to ACMs

Shaded ballots pile up at a voting precinct at the Meycauayan National High School in Bulacan on Monday, May 12, 2025. — Photo from Vince Caballero/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines —MANILA, Philippines — Voters from Meycauayan City in Bulacan have called out the Commission on Elections (Comelec) hotline operators after they were told to just trust the system, as shaded ballots have not yet been fed to the automated counting machines (ACMs).

Netizen Ge Andaya, in a message to INQUIRER.net on Monday, said that the shaded ballots — or ballots used by individuals who have cast their votes already — are piling up at the Meycauayan National High School in Barangay Caingin as voters just left these since ACMs would not accept these.

After calling the Comelec hotlines, Andaya said she and her friend were told that “there are watchers and teachers guarding the ballots.”

“I would just like to raise this concern from voters in Barangay Caingin, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.  At one of the precincts there, the machine bogged down, that’s why they stacked the ballots on top of each other, and they did not stop people from voting, they continued to accept ballots,” Andaya said in Filipino.

“The voters did not get any receipt to verify if the machine has properly read their ballots.  What my friend did was to call Comelec, but the Comelec’s answer did not sound good,” she added.

According to Andaya, when she and her friend said that they cannot verify the authenticity of their votes without a receipt, the Comelec hotline operator asked them “why they do not trust” the election officers.

Vince Caballero, another netizen from Meycauayan, reiterated that voters cannot just trust other people to put their ballots inside the ACMs.

According to Caballero, there were election officers eating beside the ballots, which he believes is improper because the ACMs are supposed to be sensitive.

“Hey Comelec, the people manning your hotlines are of no use.  You would tell us that we do not trust the system but your machines broke down just after reading a few ballots.  Naturally we would not trust them, they just hold our ballots, it’s not secure and we have not obtained a receipt of whom we voted for,” he said.

“Tell us now that ‘that is how things happen, just trust us.’  But look, election officers are eating beside the ballots?  Aren’t your machines sensitive?  To the person whom I talked to a while ago, you sounded like someone from the markets.  Government pay is wasted on you,” he added.

INQUIRER.net has asked Comelec for its side of the issue but officials have not responded as of posting time.  Comelec Chairperson George Garcia, in a message to reporters earlier, said that there are instances that machines jam because papers were inserted into the ACM the wrong way.

He also noted that that support staff can feed ballots on behalf of senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, and other voters.

This is not the first report that individuals encountered problem with ACMs, which are now supplied by a joint venture headed by Miru Systems.  Earlier, Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidate and former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he experienced a minor glitch when he cast his vote in Imus, Cavite.

Lacson said his ballot was not immediately accepted by the machine.

“There was a little glitch. Because [my ballot] wasn’t accepted at first. I was told there were many returns. He flipped it over, put the back page first, it got in,” he said.

“I hope they can resolve minor issues like that. Because others, maybe they can’t wait, maybe they’ll just leave, never come back,” he added.

READ: Lacson experiences glitch with voting machine

In March 2024, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. (Miru Systems) inked an P18-billion contract for the lease of an automated election system to be used in the 2025 midterm elections.

The contract was placed under scrutiny, as Comelec was questioned why it was spending more funds when the Philippine government had already purchased existing vote counting machines (VCMs).

READ: Rep Rodriguez backs Smartmatic’s advice on reuse of VCMs for 2025 polls

Comelec has opted not to reuse Smartmatic’s VCMs due to several issues in past elections, like the 2,000 VCMs bogging down during the 2022 presidential poll. /das