ONCE again, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reminded voters to fully shade the ovals in the ballots in the upcoming May elections. This is the same Comelec that behind our backs, and unknown to the candidates and the parties, except perhaps to those who had sinister plans to use the information to their advantage, changed the minimum shading thresholds which the vote counting machines (VCMs) would count as valid votes in the 2016 elections from 50 percent, which was earlier published under their rules, to 25 percent, which was only publicly revealed when the protest of former senator Bongbong Marcos was already in progress. In fact, according to information revealed by former Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr., the same was done for the 2013 elections, where it was lowered even further to 20 percent, again unknown to the voting public and the contesting parties. Hence, Comelec appeared to have duped us into believing that we needed to shade the ballots fully, but eventually, and like a thief in the night, surreptitiously changed the voting threshold not just once, but twice.