ACM errors high complaints in 2025 midterm polls composite picture. Illustration by Ed Lustan/Inquirer.web
MANILA, Philippines — Automated counting machine (ACM) errors emerged as essentially the most reported election anomaly because the 2025 midterm elections concluded.
In response to ballot watchdogs, ACM errors accounted for over half of the whole complaints that they logged.
The standing report of Vote Report PH confirmed that as of Could 13, 12:00 PM, a complete of 6,064 election-related violations had been reported, with 1,593 circumstances verified.
In response to the standing report, ACM points represented 50.09 p.c of all verified violations, translating to 798 studies.
These incidents generally included ink smudging, overly delicate scanners, and a excessive incidence of overvotes—errors that watchdogs say contributed to widespread voter disenfranchisement.
Vote Report PH’s last tally additionally recorded vital studies of:
- Unlawful campaigning — 12.55% or 200 incidents
- Voter disenfranchisement — 9.04% or 144 circumstances
- Non-compliance by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) — 7% or 102 incidents
- Purple-tagging of progressive candidates — 3.39% or 54 circumstances
Voter disenfranchisement circumstances primarily concerned lacking names on voter rolls and procedural obstacles that prevented eligible people from casting their votes. The watchdog additionally famous the rise in overvoting, which it attributes to the ACMs’ sensitivity to smudges and marks on the ballots.
Machines fail, vote discrepancies
“ACM errors embody circumstances of paper jams, mismatch of precise votes versus Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Path (VVPAT) outcomes, and overvoting resulting from smudging and/or different markings on the ballots. These technical points inevitably led to voter disenfranchisement,” mentioned Dr. Danilo Arao, convenor of ballot watchdog Kontra Daya.
Whereas the Fee on Elections (Comelec) attributed some points to excessive warmth and humidity—situations that might trigger ink smudges or make paper damp—Kontra Daya raised considerations in regards to the lack of transparency in testing the machines earlier than the elections.
“Whereas these elements may play a task, the actual fact stays that these errors and technical points will proceed as a result of the Comelec fails to be clear with how they’re testing the election paraphernalia,” Arao mentioned.
Regardless of the rise in complaints about VVPAT mismatches, Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia downplayed the difficulty, citing the absence of onerous proof. He speculated that some voters may need forgotten their selections or mistakenly shaded the improper circles on the ballots.
“For individuals who declare that the receipts they received don’t match their votes, we wouldn’t have proof or proof as a result of it’s extremely potential that they forgot who they voted for, or that they shaded somebody’s identify that was not their most well-liked candidate,” Garcia mentioned in Filipino.
READ: Look forward to audit: Garcia says no proof of machines’ inaccurate receipts
The Comelec maintained that essentially the most dependable proof would come from post-election handbook audits, which might evaluate transmitted poll photographs and bodily ballots.
Election hotspots recognized
Vote Report PH recognized the highest election violation hotspots, the place most irregularities had been reported:
- NCR: Quezon Metropolis, Manila Metropolis, Marikina Metropolis
- Outdoors NCR: Baguio Metropolis (Benguet), Davao Metropolis (Davao del Sur), Antipolo Metropolis (Rizal)
Information from the ballot physique confirmed that Quezon Metropolis tops the listing of vote-rich cities with 1,454,411 registered voters. It’s adopted by Manila with 1,142,174 registered voters, whereas Marikina logged 315,980 registered voters within the metropolis.
In the meantime, Baguio Metropolis registered a complete of 166,416 voters, whereas Davao Metropolis had 1,006,592 registered voters, and Antipolo Metropolis recorded 455,797 voters.
A brand new system with outdated issues
The Comelec’s resolution to interchange the getting older Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) from Smartmatic with the ACMs equipped by South Korea’s Miru Techniques was aimed toward modernizing the electoral course of. Regardless of excessive expectations, the shift to Miru’s ACMs proved problematic for a lot of voters.
READ: Miru System: A serious shift in voting know-how awaits 2025 elections
Garcia admitted that 311 ACMs wanted alternative throughout the election, however he emphasised that this quantity was considerably decrease in comparison with the two,500 VCMs changed within the 2022 presidential polls.
The ACM points primarily concerned scanner malfunctions and defective thermal printers.
READ: No failure of elections: ACM replacements nonetheless decrease than 2022’s
“In comparison with the 2022 elections, the place throughout the first few hours of voting, 2,500 machines had been instantly changed, right here, in all equity, we solely changed 311 machines,” Garcia famous.
The Comelec additionally defined that ACM malfunctions had been primarily brought on by the extraordinary warmth, resulting in grime and moisture buildup on the scanners, forcing ballot employees to pause voting periodically for cleansing.
Comelec slammed over ‘ballot blunders’
In a strongly worded assertion, ballot watchdog Kontra Daya known as for accountability from the Comelec over what it described as main blunders and irregularities within the 2025 midterm elections.
“The Comelec has loads of explaining to do with the reported blunder and violations within the midterm elections,” Kontra Daya said.
READ: Mike Rama refuses to concede Cebu Metropolis mayoral defeat
In response to the group, the primary hours of the voting interval had been already marred with technical points regarding the ACMs. Voters skilled delays of an hour or extra resulting from malfunctioning machines.
There have been additionally studies of vote mismatches between ballots and VVPAT receipts, in addition to overvoting attributed to slight smudges and markings on the ballots—errors that resulted in disenfranchisement.
“There’s additionally a noticeable spike in studies of overvoting on this 12 months’s election. Disenfranchisement can also be reported with voters nonetheless unable to seek out their names within the listing,” Kontra Daya added.
The group additionally flagged studies of unlawful campaigning, significantly the distribution of marketing campaign supplies, together with pattern ballots, close to polling precincts—a violation of election guidelines.
Abroad Filipino voters weren’t spared from points, as confusion arose with the shift from the standard automated voting system to an On-line Voting System (OVS). Kontra Daya reported that many abroad voters had been left suspicious of potential electoral fraud.
Garcia earlier mentioned no failure of elections has been declared for the reason that main necessities to push via with an election have been fulfilled.
“We wouldn’t have any failure of elections by any means, every part functioned in response to plan. Having a failure of election—there are a lot of Supreme Courtroom selections already—implies that primary, the supplies weren’t delivered, not even one. Quantity two, academics who will function electoral board members didn’t arrive, and it resulted in a failure to elect,” he famous.
“What if the supplies had been there, academics had been current, elections had been held and the precinct functioned, however solely certainly one of 100 voters forged his or her vote, that doesn’t imply it means a failure of election. The failure to elect should be on account of violence, terrorism, or pressure majeure.”
Software program considerations
Kontra daya beforehand criticized the Comelec for its failure to clarify using unaudited software program within the ACMs, asserting that it compromised the integrity of the election.
The watchdog maintained that model 3.5.0 is just not the identical as 3.4.0, which was the one model licensed by the Technical Analysis Committee (TEC).
“As an alternative of addressing these points, the Comelec dismissed it and claimed that there have been no main issues in yesterday’s election,” Kontra Daya mentioned.
In response to the group, this situation, together with the reported election violations, underscores the necessity for handbook counting earlier than digital transmission, a measure it believes would restore public belief and make sure the sanctity of the vote.
“Given the uncertainty, Comelec ought to observe transparency. Guide counting upholds the sanctity of the vote whereas guaranteeing a clear, public tallying course of and reinforcing belief in democratic elections,” the assertion continued.
READ: 2025 elections: Teams need handbook vote rely amid software program replace
In response to the allegations of a sudden software program change, Comelec clarified that the model 3.5 software program at present utilized by the ACMs had been reviewed and verified.
Comelec defined that the model labeled as 3.4 throughout the Native Supply Code Assessment Report was later verified by third-party audits. Upon profitable verification, it was re-labeled as model 3.5, indicating no substantial change within the software program itself.
“For everybody’s info, the supply code of the ACM was duly audited and the hash codes correspond to the ultimate trusted construct of the impartial third-party auditor and worldwide certification entity,” Comelec said.
Comelec emphasised that the supposed discrepancy between variations 3.4 and three.5 was purely a matter of labeling following verification.
“The mentioned model 3.4 of the Native Supply Code Assessment Report is the one which went via an impartial third-party audit, and after it handed the verification, it was labeled as model 3.5, which is at present being utilized by the ACMs primarily based on what the candidates are displaying in a video,” Comelec added.
The ballot physique additionally reminded the general public that spreading “false and alarming info” is taken into account an election offense beneath Philippine regulation.
Learn Subsequent
