The Philippine Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not advised voters the proper way to fill out ballots was to make small dots next to their candidate of choice, contrary to online rumors. The poll body disowned the false guidance and maintained voters should “fully shade” circles in the ballot paper.
“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”.
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).
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.