Supreme Court upholds automated polls, rejects bid for mandatory manual vote count

MANILA, Philippines —The Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct manual counting of votes at the precinct level, affirming that the country’s automated election system does not require a parallel manual tally and that such a process would undermine the objectives of election automation. In a decision promulgated on Oct. 28, 2025 but only made public this week, the high court denied for lack of merit the petition filed by Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and several retired police and military officials who argued that Republic Act 9369 mandated manual precinct-level counting alongside automated elections. Writing for the court, Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier said RA 9369 was enacted specifically to “modernize the Philippine electoral process through the implementation of an automated election system,” emphasizing that the law’s intent was to replace manual counting with automation in order to reduce human intervention and minimize opportunities for electoral fraud. The tribunal said interpreting the law to require simultaneous manual counting would run contrary to the broader legislative framework mandating automated elections. It added that the word “shall” in the provisions cited by the petitioners referred only to procedural safeguards applicable during manual counts conducted under limited circumstances, and did not impose a mandatory requirement for precinct-level manual counting in every election. The ruling also sustained the sufficiency of safeguards embedded in the automated election system, including voter-verifiable paper audit trails and random manual audits, which the Court said already provide adequate transparency and verification mechanisms. “Mandating a parallel manual count contradicts the objectives of automation and introduces unnecessary procedural redundancies that will only cause the long delays that provide opportunities for fraud and manipulation,” the court said. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia welcomed the decision, describing it as a “great victory” for the country’s fully automated election system. “We are extremely jubilant over this decision as it affirmed and confirmed full automation regime for our national and local elections and that a parallel manual count on election day is never required by law as it will only result in long delays and provide opportunities for manipulation and fraud,” Garcia said in a statement on Friday.

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