Votes cast for nuisance candidates are considered stray, but can't be credited to opposing bet

The Supreme Court (SC) has abandoned its earlier rulings as it declared that in the automated election system (AES), votes cast for a nuisance candidate, whose certificate of candidacy was cancelled, are stray votes, and should not be credited in favor of any candidate.

- By REY G. PANALIGAN

Under the AES, the SC ruled that there are no “vague votes” because the voting machines will base their count on the full names with aliases of candidates, as shaded in the ballots.

It pointed out that as opposed to the manual elections where the voters had to write the names of their chosen candidates, there should no longer be any room for confusion under the AES.

Thus, the SC ruled that the votes clearly cast for the legitimate candidate are counted in favor of the legitimate candidate and the votes clearly cast for the nuisance candidate, whose certificate of candidacy is cancelled or not given due course, are considered stray votes and should not be counted in favor of any other candidate.