New machines let Bangsamoro voters verify ballots in landmark vote
Election officials say technology for the Sept. 14 poll lets voters see their processed ballot and keep receipt
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (MNTV) — Voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — the Muslim-majority self-governing region of the southern Philippines — will have new ways to verify their ballots in the Sept. 14 parliamentary election, the country’s election commission said, as quoted by the Philippine Information Agency.
Commission spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the vote-counting machines will let voters see their ballot on screen after it is processed, in addition to a printed receipt they can compare against their choices.
Earlier systems offered one or the other but not both: machines used from 2016 to 2022 gave receipts but no on-screen view, while older ones gave neither.
The system will also add precinct-level auditing after ballots are counted and results transmitted.
Watchers and other authorized people may stay to observe, and the machine will afterward display the ballots it read individually — without identifying voters — allowing the process to be photographed or filmed, though phones remain barred while voting.
Officials said the measures are part of preparations for the region’s first parliamentary elections, alongside voter-education efforts to familiarize people with the machines.
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