Comelec allows Binay to cast vote twice

MANILA, Philippines — Former vice president Jejomar Binay had to cast his vote twice after a vote counting machine (VCM) rejected his first ballot due to a still undetermined problem of the machine.  

Binay said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowed him to cast his vote for the second time shortly after he raised his concern to the poll body’s headquarters at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. 

“I went directly to the PICC. The decision was to be made by the field officers and not the Comelec en banc,” Binay told reporters in English and Filipino shortly after casting his vote the second time.

Jina Ilagan, precinct supervisor and school principal of the San Antonio National High School where Binay voted, said the members of the electoral board decided to allow the former vice president to cast his vote again. 

Ilagan noted that the decision came from Makati City Comelec chief JV Villagracia and Comelec director Francis Arabe, who accompanied Binay when he voted for the second time. 

Villagracia emphasized that Binay’s case is an exemption to the rule as the issue was beyond his control and is under the general instructions of the electoral board.

“He was mobbed, so the ballot was smeared with ink—the primary parts of the ballot were damaged. It wasn’t his fault so he was given another ballot,” Villagracia explained.

Villagracia added that a voter is allowed to repeat casting a vote only if he encounters a problem with an invalid ballot and if the ballot used was not for the particular precinct. 

“Without outside factors that would misread the ballot, a voter is not allowed to cast his vote again,” he said. 

Upon arriving at the polling precinct, Arabe said, the VCM that had malfunctioned was replaced and 51 ballots, including that of Binay, were waiting to be re-fed to the machine.

Arabe said 49 ballots were re-fed but Binay and another voter were allowed to fill up new ones because their ballots got dirty and may not be read again by the machine.

The general rule, Arabe said, is that voters can wait for the replacement of VCMs when they malfunctioned so that they can re-feed them to the new machines.

But voters are also allowed to leave the ballots with the board of election inspectors so they can be secured in an envelope while waiting for the replacement VCMs.

The Comelec yesterday insisted that no special treatment was accorded to Binay.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Arabe accompanied Binay back to the polling precinct only because they needed to personally see why his ballot was rejected.

“There was no intervention, we just need to get an eye on the problem. Nothing is given to him that is not given to other voters,” Jimenez explained.