Comelec eyes stamping instead of shading for 2025 polls

Stamping pen. Stock image / INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — For the senatorial election in 2025, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has thought about stamping the ballot instead of shading it, said Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Thursday.

He said they are looking for a stamp device for the purpose. He also noted that a stamp could be more economical than the ball pen used to shade the ballot.

“Ang plano po natin, hindi na shine-shade ang ating balota. Naghahanap po kami ng isang makina na kung pupuwede, sa halip na i-shade, tinatatak,” Garcia said during a press conference held at the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

(Our plan is not to shade our ballot anymore. We are searching for a device for stamping instead of shading.)

“Para din mas makatipid. ‘Yung ballpen, hindi ka na kailangan na antayin na baka matuyo, at least ito stamp na lang,” he noted.

(Also, to save more. Unlike with a ball pen, you no longer worry about the ink drying up because here, you just stamp.)

Using a stamp will also eliminate shading concerns, which had been the main issue in some electoral protests, according to Garcia.

“’Yung shade naging issue ‘yan eh, sa isang protesta, at sa ibang protesta dahil sa issue ng 50 percent, tuldok lang, ‘di ba? Talaga namang meron kasi tayong mga kababayan na natatakot shade-an, hindi nase-shade-an lahat.”

(The shading of the ballot became an issue in one of the protests, and in other protests because of the 50 percent shade, just a dot, right? We really have fellow countrymen who are afraid of shading. They cannot shade it enough.)

Mulling over the use of stamp for the 2025 election is part of the Comelec’s effort to employ innovations in upcoming polls, Garcia stressed.

He added that the Comelec is also working to increase the scanning speed and use bigger screens for the vote counting machines, among others.

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