False ballot shading claims surface as Philippines heads to poll

"Let us be careful when shading candidates in the ballot because it has been found out by us that the official ballot is very sensitive," says a Facebook post shared May 11, 2025 a day before the mid-term elections.

"Hence, just use the marking pen to make a 'DOT' so that it will not blot on the ballot," it adds, warning once the ink bleeds the vote would be invalidated.

The supposed guidance was attributed to an unnamed "member of the Electoral Board".

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on May 12, 2025

Several Facebook posts reshared the claim as millions of Filipinos were preparing to vote in polls widely seen as a referendum on the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte (archived link).

The race will decide more than 18,000 posts from seats in the House of Representatives to hotly contested municipal offices.

The country's election commission dismissed the circulating message as "fake".

"This is not an official announcement by the Comelec, and improper shading may result in an invalid vote," the Comelec said in a May 8 Facebook post (archived link). 

In a separate Facebook post on May 7, the country's election commission told users to "fully shade the circle" next to the candidate's name (archived link).

"Do not draw a star, heart or any other shape in the circle or any part of the ballot," it added, warning improper marks would lead to votes not being counted.

Bur Comelec chairman George Garcia said voters should be careful to avoid ink smudges in the ballot, according to a report from local media Inquirer.net (archived link). 

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Comelec's official guidance on how to properly fill out ballots

Angel Aviera Jr, chair of the poll watchdog National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections, also refuted the false posts.

"With regard to the ballot paper and marking pen, these were tested by the Department of Science and Technology and passed the quality measures," Aviera told AFP on May 12.

Aviera clarified that overvoting occurs when a person shades more than the number of seats in a particular contest. 

"For example, the maximum that we can vote for in the senatorial contest is 12. If the voter shades 13 or more then that's an over vote and the votes for that position will not be counted."

AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to the 2025 Philippine elections.