Wait for audit: Garcia says no proof of machines’ inaccurate receipts

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair George Garcia photo from INQUIRER files

MANILA, Philippines — There is no strong evidence showing that automated counting machines (ACMs) used for the 2025 midterm elections gave out receipts that were different from what voters cast, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair George Garcia said amid rumors on social media.

In a press briefing on Monday at Manila Hotel’s tent city, which is the site for Comelec’s national canvassing, Garcia explained that there is a higher probability that voters forgot who they voted for, or shaded a circle that does not correspond to their preferred candidates.

Garcia said this after several netizens aired grievances on social media, complaining that their ballot receipts showed votes that they supposedly did not make.

“Doon po sa mga sinasabi na hindi tumutugma daw ’yong kanilang resibo as against doon sa balota, wala po kaming evidence or proof on that, kasi napakataas ’yong posibilidad na nakalimutan nila na ’yon ang binoto nila, o kahit na hindi ’yon ang binoto nila, ’yon ang nailagay nila,” Garcia said.

(For those who are claiming that the receipts they got do not match the votes they placed under ballots, we do not have evidence or proof on that, because there is a big possibility that they just forgot who they voted for, or that they shaded someone’s ballot even if it does not belong to their preferred candidate.)

“Because wala naman sila maipakita, simply because wala namang pictures ‘yong pictures ‘yong mismong resibo dahil bawal nga po mag-picture ng resibo. ‘Yong iba na nakikita namin sa social media ay nagpapakita na ito raw ‘yong mga binoto nila, ‘yong sample ballot nila, bakit daw hindi ‘yon ang lumabas sa kanilang balota, sa kanilang resibo,” he added.

(Because they cannot show any proof, because there are no pictures—pictures of the actual receipt because that is not allowed. Other posts we see on social media asking why their preferences—as shown through their sample ballots—were not the candidates that came out of their receipts.)

According to Garcia, the best evidence will be the manual audits that Comelec will do, like the review of ballot picture images which will compare transmissions from automated counting machines (ACMs) and actual ballots.

“The best evidence will be later this evening. Kasi later this evening, makikita natin, ‘yong mga ballot picture images, kasi meron tayong ballot review. So sa ballot review, mabibilang manually ‘yong lahat ng balota. In fact, ‘pag nakita niyo na ‘yong ballot review, para sa mga kababayan natin mamaya po, ‘pag nakita niyo po, nando’n lang ‘yong mga pangalan ng mga kandidato na binoto sa bawat position,” Garcia explained.

(The best evidence will be later this evening. Because later this evening, we will see the ballot picture images, because there are ballot reviews. So in the ballot review, we can manually count all the ballots. In fact, when you see the ballot review, for the people who will be observing it, the names of candidates who were picked are there, for every position.)

“Hindi niyo na po makikita ‘yong mga pangalan ng mga kandidato na hindi binoto. Summarized po ‘yon, so ‘yon po ang isa sa mga makikita natin. At the same time makikita rin po natin ‘yong per ballot, so kung 300 ang binoto, ang bumoto sa mismong presinto, 300 din na ballot review, ballot images ang makikita ng bawat isa. Pwede pong bilangin,” he added.

(You cannot see the names of candidates that did not get votes. That is a summarized view, so we can see each vote. At the same time we can also see ballot results, so if there are 300 votes from a polling precinct, there should be 300 ballots reviewed, ballot images that we will see. We can count them.)

Several issues have already been reported in the first hours of voting. Garcia admitted that they have already replaced 311 automated counting machines (ACMs) due to different issues with the scanners, thermal printers, thermal papers, and other materials.

READ: 2025 elections: Groups want manual vote count amid software update

Still, Garcia said this was still way below compared to what the country experienced during the 2022 national elections, wherein over 2,000 machines malfunctioned.

The Comelec is currently using new machines, after the poll body and South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. (Miru Systems) inked an almost P18-billion contract for the lease of an automated election system.

Earlier, groups also called for a manual count of votes after expressing concerns about alleged discrepancies and inconsistencies with the automated election system (AES) implemented by Comelec.

Former Bayan Muna party-list lawmakers Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate on Monday afternoon said that the update to the softwares used—from the source code’s version 3.4 which was already reviewed and certified, to the version 3.5 update—may raise questions about the electoral process.

But the Comelec on Sunday—a day before the elections—had already clarified that rumors coming from an Isabela local candidate about issues brought by the update are mere misinformation and disinformation.

According to a statement from Comelec, the version 3.5 software used by the ACMs have been reviewed and verified.

Comelec noted that the version 3.4 from the Local Source Code Review Report, when it was verified third-party audits, was labeled as version 3.5 — which means the alleged two software are the same. /cb