MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday urged the voting public to carefully inspect the ballots they will receive and ensure these are clean, as several voters reported their ballots were rejected by the automated counting machines (ACM).

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that once a ballot's timing marks were tampered with, this could be rejected by the machine.

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"Ang balota, paulit-ulit naming sinasabi, kapag binigay sa atin ang balota, inspeksiyonin mabuti, walang punit, walang marka, walang guhit lalong-lalo na sa timing marks. Kapag may dumi o guhit diyan, papalitan niyo," said Laudiangco.

"'Yung timing marks, guide, 'yun ang kadalasang reason bakit niluluwa. By the way, pag niluwa ang balota, bibigyan kayo ng tatlong pagkakataon para isubo ang balota," he said.

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Inspecting the ballot is important to ensure that the problem lies with the paper, and not with the voter.

"Kung walang kasalanan ang ating electoral board at ang may kasalanan ng marka o kung ano-ano ay ating mga botante, hindi papalitan ang balota. Pero kung makikita sa botante na wala siyang kasalanan, talagang madumi ang balota, hindi napapalitan, yan ang pagkakataon – wala kang kasalanan – papapalitan namin ang balota," he said.

The Comelec earlier assured voters that no one else could touch their ballots before feeding them to the ACM.

The assurance followed claims that someone else could supposedly fill the empty positions if a voter opts to undervote or choose fewer than the maximum number of candidates.

Voters can verify their votes through the ACM screen, as well as the receipt the machine will release upon submitting their ballots.

Comelec says ballots cannot be tampered, even with undervotes