Ahead of polls, Comelec reminds public to shade ballots properly

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday reminded the public about the proper way to shade voting ballots ahead of the May 2019 midterm polls.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing that the shading threshold for the upcoming elections is 25 percent. This means that counting machines will only count the vote if a quarter of the oval was shaded.

Nevertheless, Jimenez advised the public to fully shade the oval, but he also advised not to overshade it.

He also told the public to use the pens provided by the Commission on Election as pencil or other pen marks may not be recognized by the machine, and not to make unnecessary remarks on the ballots, particulary the timing marks.

“Hindi naman ito coloring book (It’s not a coloring book),” Jimenez said.

Timing marks are those black rectangular shapes around the ballot which guides the vote counting machine to recognize the ballot. Unnecessary marks may lead the machine to classify the ballot as fake.

Election day is set for May 13 2019. /ee