The vote counting process in the Philippines can take several days to complete after an election. This is due to a few key factors related to the election process and procedures in the Philippines.
Election Day and Voting Process
On election day in the Philippines, voting takes place from 6 AM to 6 PM at polling precincts across the country. There are over 92,000 clustered precincts that voters are assigned to based on their registered address. Voters line up and wait their turn to enter the polling place, verify their identity, receive their ballot, proceed to the voting booth to fill in their ballot, then submit their ballot into the vote counting machine.
This process takes time with long lines and waiting periods, so the voting period was extended to 13 hours in 2013 after previously only being 8 hours long. Even with the extended voting time, long lines and delays are common, so voting often continues past the official closing time in many precincts.
Vote Counting at the Precinct Level
After voting ends at 6 PM, the vote counting begins at the precinct level. Poll officials first go through the following steps:
- Secure the polling place entrance and allow those still in line to continue voting.
- Tally the number of voters from the voter registration records versus ballots cast according to the vote counting machine.
- Fill out forms recording the number of votes cast.
- Conduct a manual audit of the vote counting machine by comparing manual tallies of ballots versus machine tallies.
- Prepare election returns containing vote tallies.
- Digitally transmit the election returns data to the municipal and city Board of Canvassers.
- Print copies of the election returns to display at the precinct and give to authorized watchers.
This precinct level counting process can take 1-5 hours to fully complete depending on the size of the precinct, number of voters, and any issues encountered with procedures or discrepancies to resolve.
Municipal and City Canvassing
After the precinct level counting, municipal and city Board of Canvassers then convene to canvass the election returns. The Board of Canvassers are appointed officials tasked with compiling the election results within their jurisdiction.
The municipal canvassing is done first. The election returns data sent digitally from all the precincts within a municipality are compiled. The printed election returns are also collected from the precincts and delivered to the municipal Board of Canvassers.
The Board of Canvassers then tallies up the votes from all the precincts to determine the total votes within their municipality for national, local, and city positions. This involves manually adding up official printout tallies, as well as verifying discrepancies with the digitally transmitted data.
A Certificate of Canvass is then prepared containing the vote totals for the municipality. This process takes about 1-2 days to complete for most municipalities.
A similar process happens at the city level for city Board of Canvassers. The city compilation includes all the municipal tallies within a city territory, which takes about 2-3 days to fully complete.
Provincial and National Canvassing
The provincial Board of Canvassers then convenes after the city canvassing finishes. The provincial Board compiles the vote totals from all the cities and municipalities within the province to determine the provincial vote totals.
For national level positions like president, vice president, and senators, the provincialCertificate of Canvass is then forwarded to the national Board of Canvassers at the Congress building in Manila.
The National Board of Canvassers, composed of members appointed by the Commission on Elections, tallies up the votes for national positions based on the provincial level reports. This process can take 3-5 days to finish.
How Long Does Final Vote Counting Take?
In total, the vote counting process from the precinct level up to the national canvassing will typically take:
- 1-5 hours at the precinct level after polls close.
- 1-2 days for municipal canvassing.
- 2-3 days for city canvassing.
- 3-5 days for the provincial canvassing.
- 3-5 days for the national canvassing.
This means the complete vote counting process will normally take around 7-10 days following election day in the Philippines before final certified results are announced. However, this timeline can be delayed further if any issues come up requiring recounts or verification at any level.
Some past election vote counting timelines include:
| Election Year | Days for Full Counting Process |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 7 days |
| 2019 | 8 days |
| 2016 | 5 days |
The 2022 elections saw a particularly quick full vote count completion within just 7 days. This was aided by more timely submission of results documents and few discrepancies requiring prolonged verification across all levels of canvassing. In contrast, 2019 took 8 days as some areas encountered issues with voter record discrepancies compared to ballots cast.
Factors Leading to Delayed Results
Some of the key factors that can lead to delayed final vote counting include:
- Failure of precinct level vote counting machines leading to manual tabulation.
- Discrepancies between number of registered voters and ballots cast.
- Delays in transmitting precinct level results to the Board of Canvassers.
- Time-consuming manual tallying when verifying discrepancies at municipal and city levels.
- Logistical delays in collecting municipal Certificates of Canvass from remote areas.
- Stoppage of national canvassing to address questions of fraud or discrepancies.
Delays from any of these factors can add hours or days to the process before final certified results are available. However, the vote counting process still remains relatively efficient despite the complex logistical operation across over 7,600 islands.
Other Election Phase Timelines
Aside from the vote counting phase, there are other key phases in the election timeline in the Philippines with standard timeframes outlined by law:
- Campaign Period – By law, the official campaign period is only 90 days leading up to election day. In 2022, the campaign period was from February 8 to May 7.
- Election Period – The election period is longer, beginning 90 days before election day and ending 30 days after. This allows time for filing cases related to the election before official results.
- Ballot Preparation – Ballots must be finalized and printed at least 45 days before the election.
- Testing of vote counting machines – Testing and sealing of vote counting machines happens 25 days prior.
- Ban on Election Spending – The ban on campaign spending begins 2 days before election day through the end of voting.
Following the 7-10 day vote counting process, election tribunals then have up to 6 months to rule on any protests filed against winning candidates before official proclamations are final.
Conclusion
In summary, the vote counting process in the Philippines typically takes 7-10 days from election day to final canvassing of official results. The complex logistical operation spans precinct voting and counting, municipal and city canvassing boards verifying and compiling results, then final national canvassing.
Efficiency has improved in recent elections to complete the vote count within a week. However, discrepancies, machine failures, and other delays at any point in the process can prolong vote counting further. Understanding these procedures and timelines provides helpful insight into Philippine election operations.
