Comelec: Local Absentee Voting turnout reached over 51,000

At least 51,000 of the 57,000 or over 90% of voters registered for the Local Absentee Voting (LAV) were able to cast their vote for the 2025 Philippine elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

Comelec Director and lawyer Allen Francis Abaya made the announcement amid the counting of the (LAV) ballots which started at 6 a.m. Monday, May 12.

“Ang nangyayari ngayon ay ‘yung ating batch feeding, ‘yung counting para sa mga balota ng ating local absentee voters. Nag-start po kami kaninang alas 6 ng umaga. So tuloy-tuloy po yung pag-batch feed sa ating ACM (automated counting machines),” Abaya told reporters.

(We’re doing batch feeding to the automated counting machines for LAV. We started at 6 a.m. and this is ongoing.)

“Ang actual voters natin is 51,991. So, ‘yun po yung bibilangin ngayon [na absentee voting ballots],” Abaya added.

(The actual [number of] voters is 51,991. So that is what we are going to count now.)

Those eligible for local absentee voting (LAV) are members of the media, police and military who are deployed on election day, May 12.

Abaya said that the LAV turnout this year of over 51,000 out of 57,000 who registered is lower compared to the 2022 elections, but noted that it is expected since presidential elections like in 2022 tend to have a higher voter turnout.

Abaya, however, said that the 51,000 absentee voting turnout for the 2025 Philippine elections was higher compared with the 2019 midterm polls.

“During the last 2022 presidential elections, it was higher, it reached around 70,000 out of 80,000 absentee voters we approved. Now, we approved 57,000 for LAV and the actual turnout is 51,000. The 2019 figures were lower,” Abaya added.

By 4 p.m. Monday, May 12, Abaya said the Special Electoral Board will convene to consolidate the counted LAV votes en route to transmitting the results to the National Board of Canvassers by 7 pm.

The 2025 Philippine elections also marked the first time that LAV votes are counted using automated counting machines.

Abaya said this is a huge relief for the Comelec personnel and significant improvement in the process.

“Pagdating sa bilangan, mas convenient ngayon kaysa sa manual. Mas matagal, mas mahirap, mas nakakapagod [sa manual]. Ngayon, mas convenient kasi nag-fi-feed lang [ng balota sa machine],” Abaya added.

(It was a huge convenience compared with manual counting. Manual counting is so tedious, tiresome, and takes a lot of time.) — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

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