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The accuracy rate is similar to previous elections
MANILA, Philippines – The accuracy rate of the automated counting machines (ACMs) for the 2025 midterm elections was almost perfect at 99.997%, based on the random manual audit (RMA) that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted.
“So far, 99.997% is the accuracy we recorded from the machine versus manual counting,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said in a mix of English and Filipino in a press conference on Friday, June 13.
The Comelec released the figure as the RMA was wrapping up. When Garcia made the announcement around 3 pm, the auditing team was opening the 724th box out of the total 762 to be randomly audited, leaving 38 boxes left.
“Mayroon mga ilang nakita, halimbawa may kulang kasing balota, o kaya naman mali pala ‘yung presintong naipadala, o kaya naman mayroong…sobra ‘yung balota. May mga ganoon, ilan lang naman na instance, but that does not affect the entirety po ng kabuuan ng result natin,” he said.
(There were some observations, like incomplete ballots, or some went to the wrong precincts, or there was a surplus of ballots. There were a few instances like those, but that does not affect the entirety of our result.)
Garcia said small discrepancies are normal. Previous elections’ manual counts had similar accuracy rates.
The RMA is a law-mandated process of manually counting votes that had already been counted by ACMs to see if the machines counted accurately. It finds its basis in Republic Act No. 9369, or the law authorizing the Comelec to use an automated election system.
The 762 boxes come from the randomly selected precincts per congressional district in each province and city.
Watchdogs earlier reported irregularities in the conduct of the May 12 elections, such as technical failures, disenfranchisement, and violence. One report from the International Observers Mission claimed machines wrongly counted certain votes as overvotes, or when a voter shades more than the allowable candidates for a certain position.
Asked if the RMA was able to verify this report or gain more insight into overvoting, Garcia said the commission is still awaiting the “overall results.”
The chairman said that while the random audit team may be able to finish all the ballot boxes on Friday, the full statistics will likely come out on Monday, June 16. – Rappler.com
