15% shading threshold in ballots remains effective for BARMM polls

Comelec chair George Garcia speaks in a news conference at the Comelec BARMM regional office hours before the acceptance of COCs by the poll body. (Photo taken on Nov. 4, 2024 by DXMS RADIO.)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will still count votes of those with 15% shading of the circle on ballots for the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections.

The Comelec first implemented the 15% threshold for ballot shading for the May 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE).

“We are not changing the threshold. It is not right to change the threshold. It is still 15%,” Garcia told reporters in an interview on Monday.

The threshold refers to the minimum amount of shading adopted by the Comelec for the voting machines to recognize as a valid vote.

READ: Comelec to count votes even with shading of only 15% of ballot circle

Garcia noted that the parliamentary elections are a continuation of the May 2025 midterm elections.

“We started it in the 2025 NLE because the law says that Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections are a continuation of the national and local elections. So we should not change what we did in the 2025 NLE,” Garcia added.

Prior to this, the lowest percent of threshold was at 25%. If a ballot shade was considered less than that, the vote would be considered as “ambiguous.”

Garcia earlier urged the 68 million registered voters to shade the entire circle of the ballots for the midterm elections. The poll body also reminded the voters to avoid smudging inks on the ballots so their ballots would be read by the machines.

In the May midterm polls, there were reports of alleged glitches in the automated counting machines (ACMs) due to its “high sensitivity” to marks and smudges on the ballots.

The Pastoral Parish Council of Responsible Voting on Monday recommended to the Comelec the return of the shading threshold from the current 15% to 25%.

Meanwhile, Garcia said the Comelec en banc has approved the ballot faces to be used in the parliamentary elections. He added that there will be enhancements in the hardware of the machines, such as improvement in the scanners to prevent paper jams.

READ: ACM glitches, ‘overvoting’ top Election Day woes

Aside from this, Garcia said the Comelec will use around 7,000 ACMs for the elections. Instead of telcos, the poll body will entirely use Starlinks to operate the ACMs.

He also mentioned that the deadline for submission of the candidates’ images to be included in the ballots was extended until July 15.

“Because otherwise, we will use the pictures they submitted on their certificate of candidacies on the day of [ballot] printing. It may not be as clear but I hope the Comelec could not be blamed for this because we gave a long deadline for submission,” he said. /apl