Facing reports of processing problems with tabulation machines, the CEE's alternate president urges voters to fill in the box instead of marking an 'X'
The alternate president of the Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE), Jessika Padilla Rivera, warned this Sunday, two days before the general election, that voters should fill in the entire box next to the symbol or name of the candidate, rather than marking an 'X', to ensure the machine recognizes the mark on the ballot when they cast their vote this coming Tuesday, Nov. 5.
The call came after reports that some tabulation machines are having trouble recognizing marks such as the 'X', which are being flagged as "indeterminate."
"I'm taking advantage of this appearance and the media to urge voters that, when they go to mark their ballot, they fill in and shade the entire box, not an 'X'. What we want to ensure is that the mark is not indeterminate. And that there is no risk that, with an 'X', it cannot be recognized by the machine and is read as indeterminate," said Padilla Rivera.
This afternoon, the CEE posted on its Facebook page a visual guide showing voters how to mark their ballot to ensure their vote counts.
CEE campaigns, organizations that promote voting, and outlets including Platea had focused on explaining to voters how to mark the ballot with an 'X' correctly so as not to invalidate it. In response, Padilla said, "It's not that we are changing the instructions. It's that we have seen a high number of indeterminate ballots when, ordinarily, there aren't that many. When we identify why a ballot is indeterminate, it's because the mark does not fill a large portion of the box," according to a report by journalist Leysa Caro González in El Nuevo Día.
For his part, the communications director of Somos Más, Pepo García, said these protocols should be carried out in advance and not left to the last minute. "This is one of them. This is the most fundamental one because this is the moment when the citizen is exercising the sacred right to vote," García said.
This change has raised concerns about how early votes will be counted, given that the CEE has already received close to 120,000 envelopes. The early voting process for incarcerated individuals also began today.
The communications director of Somos Más also said that the electoral commissioners of the political parties must agree to the change in instructions.
"I don't know the technical reasons that may be behind this, if the machine is not reading the 'X' correctly. That's why it is very important that, at this moment, we pay close attention to what the commissioners of the political parties are saying. If all the commissioners of the political parties agree on this, then there is no problem. But the commissioners need to feel confident that this is not something irregular, even if it appears to be," García said.
The Commission also indicated, through a story on its official Facebook page, that the suggestion to fill in the box is only meant to speed up the vote-reading process. "Early votes and ballots marked with an 'X' will be equally valid."
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
