Losing 1.1 million votes to overvoting is a lot of votes gone to waste by technicality.
According to reports, out of the 45,659,724 who cast their votes in the senatorial race as of 95.11 percent of election returns transmitted, a total of 1,170,331 had ballots with overvotes, which meant that these were not counted by machines. Vote counting machines will only accept votes for senator if ovals next to names of up to 12 candidates were shaded, even if some positions were left vacant.
The overvoting scenario has been anticipated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) prior to the election day and the poll body said they were not negligent in reminding voters not to vote for more than the 12 allowed. As early as February, the Comelec has made the warning on overvoting. Excess votes for the overvoted position, it said, will be strayed. The national and local elections is fully automated pursuant to Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez explained that these votes were nullified as vote counting machines (VCMs) are configured not to count them. A voter should only vote for 12 candidates based on the number of Senatorial slots up for grabs in Monday’s elections.
Although the Comelec admitted they have no data yet of the overvoting, it must look into the solutions to overvoting in the future. While we have become fully automated, we cannot be at the mercy of technology and sacrifice precious votes at the mere expense of technicality.
It is time for the Comelec to seek measures to either educate people on overvoting or come up with electronic solutions to the problem. There is enough time for the next elections and this early, it must address the glitch before the numbers grow the next time around.
