The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday, April 14 that all 93 posts abroad have been opened for overseas voting.

"Successfully opened na po ang lahat ng 77 Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS) Posts, with Honolulu PCG being the last one at around 2:00 AM Philippine Standard Time (8:00 AM in Honolulu)," Comelec Chairman George Garcia said.

"Earlier today, all 16 ACM Posts have also successfully conducted open voting procedures," he added.

A total of 77 Posts will use Internet voting, while 16 Posts will use Comelec's Automated Counting Machines (ACMs). 

As of 5 a.m., Garcia said that 54,575 have registered for online voting. The last day for online voting will be on May 7, 2025.

"With that, all 93 Posts have opened voting for their respective jurisdictions for the 2025 National Elections overseas," Garcia said.

At exactly 11:59 p.m, on April 12, 2025, Philippine Standard Time (PST), in accordance with Resolution No. 11061 the poll body officially ended the Test Voting Period for Registered Overseas Voters (ROVs) enrolled in the OVCS. Among the features of the OVCS is the test voting wherein ROVs have been given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the features of the new system.

According to the poll chief, voter turnout is usually low when the only available mode is in-person voting. Before Comelec introduced Internet voting, the only modes were in-person voting and postal voting.

"Noong nakaraang eleksyon 40.59 percent lamang ang nakaboto sa atin pong dalawang modes of voting. Yan po ay 600,000 sa 1.976 milyon na botante abroad (In the last election in 2022, only 40.59 percent of our voters participated using two modes of voting. That amounts to 600,000 out of 1.976 million voters abroad)," Garcia said.

In that election, he said that Comelec spent almost P600 million equivalent to roughly P1,000 per overseas voter, which is higher than the amount regularly spent when voting in the Philippines.

Garcia reminded voters that the names of those they voted for would not be shown to avoid it being used for vote buying.

Overseas voting officially commenced on Sunday, April 13, 2025, and will run until 7 p.m., May 12, 2025, PST, synchronized with the end of voting hours in the Philippines.

National Technical Support Center

In relation to this, Miru Systems in collaboration with Comelec and other election technology providers recently established the the National Technical Support Center, located at the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX). This center will serve as a dedicated call center for reporting and resolving technical issues during the 2025 National and Local Elections.

The National Technical Support Center will be the primary contact point for election officers, Department of Education (DepEd) support staff, and technicians to report concerns about the election process, whether they involve Miru’s Automated Counting Machines (ACMs), iOne Resources and Ardent Network’s Secure Electronic Transmission Services (SETs), or the OVCS managed by SMS Global Technologies, Inc. and Sequent Tech Inc.

This centralized support structure aims to ensure transparency, accountability, and swift resolution of any technical issues that may arise during the election.