Comelec considers lowering ballot shading threshold to 15%

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is considering lowering ballot shading threshold to 15 percent in the 2025 midterm election.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said this will allow machine to read as valid vote marks that cover at least 15 percent of circle beside a candidate's name on the ballot.

“We trust the system than much, that's why we are recommending to the En Banc to lower the threshold. Dahil sa 50 percent dati nagiging issue pa yun, nagiging basehan pa sa pagpa-file ng kaso, mga protesta (Because of the 50 percent that used to become an issue, it becomes a basis for filing cases, protests),” Garcia told reporters in an ambush interview.

“Sa 15 percent, at least doon kahit yung mga nakatatanda, may mga kapansanan, medyo nahihirapan, siguro naman kahit na tuldok lang na ganyan mabibilang na ngayon kasi that's the intention of the voter (At 15 percent, at least there even the elderly, those with disabilities, are having a bit of a hard time, maybe even just a dot like that will be counted now because that's the intention of the voter),” Garcia added.

Garcia stressed that that the 15 percent threshold enought to show “the real intention of the voter.”

“Yun naman ang palaging basis ng ating halalan (That’s the basis of the elections)... We are not supposed to suppress the intention of the voter,” he added.

In the 2022 and 2019 polls, the threshold adopted was at 25 percent while in 2016 and 2013, it was at 50 percent.

The threshold used in the 2010 elections, the first electoral exercise of the country to use the automated election system, was 20 percent.