The Daily Tribune
Comelec begins random manual audit of midterm polls
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) officially started the random manual audit (RMA) of ballots from Eleksyon 2025 on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
At least 60 auditing teams from the Department of Education, comprised of teachers who did not serve as electoral board members, will check the performance of the automated counting machines (ACMs).
They will examine ballots from 726 randomly-selected clustered precincts and one voting post to validate their accuracy, with 27 ballot boxes audited on the first day.
Verifiers from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) are also present.
PPCRV Trustee Tammy Lipana emphasized the importance of the audit to assure the public that the machines are accurate and their votes are correctly counted.
The audit, which is expected to last up to 45 days, is being conducted at the Citadines Bay City Hotel in Pasay.
The RMA is a legal requirement under Section 29 of the Automated Election System (AES) Act and serves as a transparency initiative mandated by law.
Topics in this story
Explore more stories about these topics.
🤖
This story was generated by AI to help you understand the key points. For more detailed coverage, please see the news articles from trusted media outlets below.
News Sources
See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) replaced 311 automated counting machines (ACMs) for Eleksyon 2025 due to technical issues, a significantly lower number compared to the approximately 2,000 machines replaced in the 2022 elections.
Read more →
Automated counting machine (ACM) errors constituted half of all reported election violations during the midterm elections, according to poll watchdogs Vote Report PH and Kontra Daya.
Read more →
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is aiming to complete the canvassing of votes for the 2025 midterm elections on Thursday, three days after Filipinos cast their votes.
Read more →
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has officially debunked claims of a hash code mismatch in the automated counting machines (ACMs) for Eleksyon 2025 as "fake news."
Read more →
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared no failure of elections in the 2025 midterm elections despite reports of malfunctioning counting machines, disinformation, and violence in certain areas.
Read more →