By RUTH NACIONAL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Election watchdogs Vote Report PH and Kontra Daya reported that 42.11 percent of the 79 verified incidents received today, May 12, are related to Automated Counting Machine (ACM) errors.

Voters in some precincts encountered issues since the early voting hours for senior citizens and persons with disability (PWD). One of the first few reports came from the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance and Movement for Accountability, Truth, Change, and Human Dignity (MATCH), who shared how PWD and senior citizens faced delays in a clustered precinct in Loakan Elementary School, Baguio due to ACM malfunctions that took over 40 minutes to resolve.  

Similar experiences were reported in precincts in cities in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Pampanga, Iloilo, Bicol, Abra, and Mindanao. In some cases, the errors were either repaired or attended to by Comelec staffers. However, some watchers suggested that the voters leave their ballots to be fed to the machine later. Voters in the Cabuyao Integrated National High School precinct refused the proposal to safeguard their votes.

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. himself encountered a ‘minor glitch’ at his polling precinct in Batac City, Ilocos Norte. His ballot was accepted by the machine on his second attempt, according to a report. 

‘Overvotes’ and nullified ballots

Aside from rejected ballots and machine breakdowns, reported cases also include nullified ballots due to ACMs declaring overvoting.

Kontra Daya said that over sensitive ACM have mistakenly logged some ballots as overvotes, nullifying the votes of some voters despite carefully shading the right number of allowable candidates. 

Lourd Gobris, a voter at Pascual Memorial Elementary School, Quezon City, said in his Facebook post, “…12 na senador lang shinade ko at sure na sure ako dun. Pero nung pinasok ko na sa machine at nakuha ko na yung voter’s receipt, sabi nag-overvote daw ako sa Senators. Pero hindi, dinouble check ko yung ballot ko at binilang lahat ng shinade-an ko mula sa mga Senador hanggang sa partylist, tama naman yung bilang. Grabe, nakakalungkot at nakakapanghinayang.”

Whether they cast votes for 12 candidates or less, some ACMs read the ballots as overvotes also due to ink bleeding or contamination. 

Such was the case narrated in a post by @ChaoEnid84723 on X which read, “My ballot was rejected 4x, the 1st time since 2010. Im a PWD. 7 ballots including mine were invalidated  due to ink stains from @COMELEC issued pen (by 6:45am). How much did u spend on this disaster pen? The ink smears on folders, hands, & ballots.”

Most reports on these incidents were not resolved due to poll watchers promising victims that their ballots will be reviewed later. However, in another similar incident in Quezon City, Electoral Board Chairperson of the precinct at the Tomas Morato Elementary School Carla Pia Gonzales admitted that checking it will be difficult due to the volume of ballots and the lack of serial numbers on these. 

Not their candidates

If not the wrongful count of votes, wrong results on ballot receipts plagued voters. Several reports classified as ACM-related errors contain concerns on votes that voters did not cast yet appeared on their receipt. 

In a report by GMA News, Senatorial candidate Raul Lambino, who voted at the Buenlag Elementary School in Pangasinan, experienced this error twice when his ballot receipt did not reflect the candidates he voted for. 

In several reports, election monitors claimed that this irregularity is caused by the marker ink as well. Facebook user Harold Esteban Jacob said, “…In my experience, the VCM receipt showed a vote for two candidates I did not shade on my ballot. This may have been caused by the fact that we had to insert the ballot multiple times due to repeated VCM errors. Because of this, ink blots may have formed on the ballot, leading to an incorrect reading by the machine.”

Foreshadowed but dismissed 

Comelec released an announcement on May 8 to rebut a claim that the official ballots are prone to overvotes due to ink bleeding. They said that the ballots went through rigid quality assurance by the Comelec and the National Printing Office to ensure that these are ink-absorbent and compatible with the official marking pen. 

However, this issue is one of the most prevailing among reports received on election day.

Another official report by Vote Report PH and Kontra Daya will be published at 3:00 p.m. (RVO)