By JIAN ZHARESE JOEIS SANZ
Bulatlat.com

BULACAN – Numerous cases of accidental ‘overvotes’ were reported since the morning of the 2025 midterm elections today, May 12. 

Loyd, not his real name, of Baesa, Quezon City, expressed his frustrations in an online interview with Bulatlat, saying that the ink smudged all over the shaded area of his ballot, which caused the automated counting machine (ACM) to declare his vote as an “overvote.”

“[The members of the Electoral Board] couldn’t really explain how it happened. They just said maybe I shaded one too many, but I’m 100% sure I only voted for 12 senators,” he said.  

Based on Vote Report PH’s report released at 2:30 p.m., Automated Counting Machine (ACM) errors accounted for 54 percent of overall electoral irregularities. This includes overvote cases often resulting from smudged ink and machine misreading. 

A woman from Salawag, Dasmariñas, Cavite, said in another online interview that  her senior citizen father had the same experience. She requested to keep their identities private. She explained that despite being careful while voting, the receipt of her father’s ballot revealed an ‘overvote’ in the senatorial section. 

She said that when she raised the issue with the chairman of the precinct’s EB, they were told that they might have accidentally dotted the ballot. The EB said the ballot is very sensitive, and that it would have been better if they under voted. The chairman informed them that nothing could be done about the incident because the ballot could no longer be retrieved. “I didn’t want to drop the receipt anymore—it felt pointless to us because what mattered most was voting for senators. [But] we couldn’t take the receipt out,” she said.

“It really hurts that my father’s vote went to waste. If I hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have even known that he overvoted,” she said.

According to a report by ABS-CBN, overvote happens when a voter selects more candidates than that allowed for a particular position. When a ballot with an overvote is processed by the machine, the section with the overvote will be considered invalid, while the remaining properly filled sections will still be counted.

While the Commission on Elections (Comelec) did not publicly disclose the material used in the ballots, the Comelec reportedly tapped the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to help guarantee the quality of ballots.

Comelec Chairman Atty. George Erwin Garcia stressed the need for careful shading of ballots to prevent ink smudging. He urged voters not to press too hard when marking the ovals, as excessive pressure may cause the ink to spread and compromise the readability of the ballot. 

Cases of false results on ballot receipts are also under this category. One of such cases was posted online by communication educator Flordeliz Abanto. She claimed that her vote for partylist was not counted but instead Agimat Partylist appeared in her the ballot receipt, which she vehemently claimed she did not vote for. 

Gabriel Villaruel, an artist, also experienced the same irregularity. His ballot receipt also showed that he voted for Agimat, which he claimed he did not, and that he marked a different party-list group.. 

In the case of Ayalyn Porton, she was aghast when her ballot receipt showed that Quiboloy was included in her lineup. She said that she did not vote for Quiboloy. 

As of this writing, the Comelec hasn’t offered any direct solution to these irregularities. (RTS, RVO)