(Eagle News)–Former Vice President Jejomar Binay and another voter were given replacement ballots after an electoral board ruled it was not their fault their first ballots became dirty.
The Commission on Elections had said this was the reason why their first ballots were rejected by the VCM in the first place.
“Dito sa case ni former VP Binay, ‘yung balota niya nalaglag dahil dinumog ng tao ‘yung electoral board nung ayaw tanggapin ng machine so ‘yung ballot niya at saka isa pang ballot ay nadumihan so hindi na siya tinatanggap ng machine. So they have to give him a replacement ballot,” Comelec education and information division director Frances Arabe said.
He said the two replacement ballots and the rest of the 49 ballots were re-fed into the VCM, which accepted them.
Binay was not the only political figure whose ballot had to be replaced.
In a Facebook post, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said his ballot was rejected when he fed it into the VCM in his polling precinct in Kidapawan.
After an hour, he said he approached the electoral board to ask what went wrong.
The chairperson found a ballpen marking at the edge of the ballot, and admitted she might have made the same while she was rushing, Piñol said.
The 3-man board then unanimously ruled Piñol should get a replacement ballot.
