FACT CHECK: Leaving blanks on ballot will not lead to vote manipulation

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No 'dirty tricks group' can manipulate blank spaces on a ballot because voters themselves feed their ballots into the vote-counting machines, Comelec says in a May 9 post

Claim: Voters should not leave blanks on their ballots and instead vote for candidates with no chance of winning, so that a “dirty tricks group” will not fill up those blank spaces.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: Several posts bearing the claim have been posted on Threads, Instagram, and especially Facebook. While shares and reactions are scarce, repeated posts resemble patterns of a copypasta.

The circulating statement claims that it comes from Gus Lagman, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner. 

“Gus still believes that it’s wiser not to leave blanks in the ballot,” the statement says. “Better to give votes to those who really don’t have the slightest chance to win.”

The posts say that a “dirty tricks group” will fill up these blank spaces, including placing any kind of mark that will invalidate the ballot.

Readers are then urged to share the word about Lagman’s advice.

The facts: Comelec debunked the claim in a May 9 post, pointing out that voters themselves will feed their ballots into automated counting machines (ACM). 

“Walang oportunidad ang mga naturang ‘dirty tricks group’ na baguhin ang inyong boto dahil pag-feed pa lamang ng balota ay nakatala na ito sa ACM,” the commission explained.

(This supposed “dirty tricks group” will have no opportunity to change your votes because the moment you feed your ballot into the ACM, your votes are already recorded.)

Furthermore, each voter can review their vote after casting it by verifying the ballot image and voter receipt issued to them.

Comelec then reminded the public that leaving blanks on the ballot, or undervoting, is a choice that only voters themselves must make.

Undervoting: In the past, the issue of undervoting has been used as a way to question the results of an election. In 2016, then-vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos said the huge number of undervotes in the VP race, which Leni Robredo won by a slim margin, led his camp to believe poll fraud was committed.

While Marcos’ electoral protest had eventually been dismissed, a defeated Cagayan gubernatorial copied this narrative, saying people wouldn’t normally “leave key positions blank.”

Robredo’s camp pointed out, however, that undervoting is normal in any election and for any position. During the 2016 elections, Rappler reported that undervote statistics had essentially been the same as the two preceding presidential polls. 

Previous fact-checks: Rappler has published several election-related fact checks in the run-up to the May 12 elections: 

• FACT CHECK: QR codes in voter receipt don’t show names of candidates voted for 
• FACT CHECK: Local surveys showing Duterte family, others winning, are fake — Pulse Asia
• FACT CHECK: Spliced video falsely claims Comelec hit Oriental Mindoro bet for vote-buying 
• FACT CHECK: Comelec’s ballot is not prone to overvote due to ink bleeding 
• FACT CHECK: Comelec not hiring poll watchers for May 12 elections 

– Shay Du/Rappler.com

Shay Du is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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