Overvoting, missing names among complaints monitored by ACE-PPCRV

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 May) –   The conduct of elections was generally peaceful across the three districts in Davao City but discrepancies between the ballot selections and voting receipt, missing names, and malfunctions of the  automated counting machine (ACM), were among a hundred reports received by the Archdiocesan Citizen Engagement Committee – Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (ACE-PPCRV).

“This is what we have been monitoring,”  ACE-PPCRV spokesperson Aileen Lizada told MindaNews. 

Lizada said they continue to receive reports and are monitoring various social media posts to verify these alleged overvoting problems. She said complaints have reached them about voting for the correct number of senators or city councilors but voting receipts indicate an overvote. 

She said 17 cases of these discrepancies were reported – two in District 1, 13 in District 2 and two in District 3. 

^{Voters queue for assistance in locating their precincts at the Voters’ Assistance Desk of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) inside the GSIS Elementary School on 12 May 2025. The assistance desk is what voters see first upon entering the school’s main gate. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS}

According to the ACE-PPCRV Summary of Concerns, in District 1, a voter in Baliok Elementary School voted for 10 senators but the voter receipt reflected 11 candidates; while in Quezon Elementary School, a voter chose eight for 8 council seats but the votes were invalidated because the voter receipt indicated “overvote.” 

Similar cases were reported in Districts 2 and 3. 

^{The Archdiocesan Citizen Engagement-Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting headquarters in Davao City at nearly 5 pm on 12 May 2025. MindaNews photo by IAN CARL ESPINOSA}

The ACE-PPCRV received a hundred reports on discrepancies between the ballots selections and voting receipt, complaints on voters’ names missing rom master list, ACM errors/malfunction, spoiled ballots, PPCRV watchers denied entry, as well as reports on alleged election offenses such as distribution of sample ballots outside the voting centers: 19 in District 1, 39 in District 2, 29 in District 3 and 18 in the Island Garden City of Samal, which is part of  Davao del Norte province but is within the Archdiocese of Davao.  (Ian Carl Espinos / MindaNews)