The "mislabeling" of election returns (ERs)--where there were more ballots cast than the actual number of voters in a polling precinct--has already been resolved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said Friday, May 16.

Such a development came after ER results posted on Comelec's website last May 12 showed there were 919 ballots cast in a clustered precinct in Lamisahan, Zamboanga City, although there were only 768 voters there.

But it was eventually rectified, and the two figures have matched. Comelec called it a case of "mislabeling".

Ana de Villa-Singson, spokesperson for PPCRV, said the poll body had already clarified the discrepancy in the figures.

"The inaccuracies [were] due to the misunderstanding on the basis of the number of ballots cast," Singson told a press conference, citing Comelec's explanation.

"There are two definitions—1. total number of valid ballots—as defined it is the valid ballots that are actually cast into the ballot box," she said.

"[And] total number of scanned ballots is the total sum of the valid, rejected and returned ballots," she added.

Basically, Comelec had two figures: one was the total number of valid ballots; and the other was the total number of ballots, including those that were rejected and returned by the machines.

"Sometimes the machines will reject the ballot. So it’s already scanned once, and then you put it in again, it’s scanned again. So it’s actually scanned twice for one voter,” Singson said.

Citing Comelec's explanation, Singson said the poll body showed the total number of ballots, including those that were rejected, instead of only the valid ballots.

“So the error was that the data they showed, they mislabeled it. They showed the data that was scanned when they should have shown the data of the actual valid number of ballots. That has since been adjusted,” she added.

Singson says PPCRV is already considering such issues as "case closed".