21-05-2025
Comelec: 1.3M Filipinos overvoted for senators in Eleksyon 2025
There were 1.3 million Filipinos whose votes for senators were considered invalid after they shaded more than 12 candidates during the 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that this translated to 2% of the 57.3 million Filipinos who cast their ballots in the May 12 elections.
'17 million na votes po 'yan, nakita 'yan sa ating consolidation system. Sa statistics po, 17 million, may 12 senador doon sa 17 million na hindi nakinabang ng boto,' Garcia said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
(That's 17 million votes seen in our consolidation system. In our statistics, if there were 17 million overvotes, there were 12 senatorial candidates who did not receive votes intended for them.)
'So 17 [million] divided by 12, that's 1.3 million na mga kababayan natin ang nag-overvote. Masyadong malaki 'yun. That's 2% of 57 million [total voters],' he added.
(So 17 million divided by 12, that's 1.3 million Filipinos who overvoted. That's too big. That's 2% of 57 million total voters.)
The Comelec on Saturday officially proclaimed the 12 winning senators for Eleksyon 2025. The bottom three positions were filled in by senator-elect Camille Villar and reelectionist Senators Lito Lapid and Imee Marcos, who all got over 13 million votes.
Ben Tulfo sat tightly at the 13th spot with 12 million votes. Candidates Bong Revilla, Abby Binay, and Benhur Abalos placed 14th to 16th, respectively, with all of them getting over 11 million votes.
Garcia said that senatorial candidates who wish to question the votes nullified due to overvoting may file an election protest to the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
'Ito pong overvoting, pwede nilang gawin dahilan 'yan para makita talaga kung 'yan ba ay smudge o talaga bang nag-tuldok lang o nalagayan ng X kasi shinade. So diyan mabibilang. Kasi sa protesta, binibilang talaga manually ang lahat ng balota at nagke-claim ka na itong balota, dapat amin, hindi dapat binalewala,' he explained.
(They can use the overvoting as a basis to check if the ballots were smudged, if there was a dot, or an X because it was not shaded. We can count that. Because during a protest, all the ballots are really counted manually and you could claim that these ballots should be counted and not invalidated.)
'Sa lahat ng eleksyon, laging may overvoting. Hindi po natin kayang pigilan ang mga kababayan natin. Minsan kasi, nai-shade na, nagbago ang isip, naglagay ng ekis kasi nagbago isip. Pero 'yun nga, touch move po kasi,' he continued.
(There's always overvoting in every election. We can't stop our voters from doing that. Sometimes, they have already shaded ballots but they suddenly changed their minds, and they put a cross on it. That's not possible because it's a touch move.)
Should there be anyone who wants to file an election protest, Garcia said that the Comelec will provide them the necessary documents that they need to proceed with the filing. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
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