Cheating with ERs in 2004 Elections (2004)

Summary:

Tampered election returns (ERs) turned out to be the secret behind Mrs. Arroyo's electoral "victory" in 2004, from the Commission on Elections' ordering of more than 30,000 extra copies of ERs for the May 2004 elections. Lacson, in launching his "Be Not Afraid" movement in 2005, disclosed that most of these ERs found their way into supposedly Arroyo territories like Cebu, Iloilo, Pampanga, Las Piñas and others.

"Candidates usually focus their attention on the Certificate of Canvass or COC. But somebody figured out that if we tamper with the COCs, it might be easy to detect such changes. So, why not begin with the 'manufacturing' of the ERs? Imagine having access to 30,000 forms of Election Returns. That can easily translate into as many as 6 million votes!” he said.

Lacson disclosed that Arroyo election operators pre-fabricated Page 1, where the presidential listing is found, months before the elections - filling up thousands upon thousands of the ERs.

So brazen was the operation that a pre-fabricated ER from Floridablanca shows thumb marks that look like marks of babies or kittens.  Tallies in Las Piñas City had the same "penmanship" as those in Floridablanca, Pampanga, he added.

Effect:

Lacson's ERs gave the public a glimpse of new - and more brazen - ways found by the administration to cheat in elections.