A badge stands out, not hard to recognize or check and see if it's genuine or fake.
Even in elections, they are easy to spot. In the Bogo, Cebu tally for the fifth district race, there are election returns (ERs) that allegedly don't jibe with ERs of the rival party and C-Cimpel.
What can be more starkly suspicious than when one set of ERs has different figures from other sets of ERs for the same precincts?
If ERs with the Board of Canvassers (BOC) show Tining Martinez winning while copies held by Benhur Salimbangon and C-Cimpel show Benhur ahead, doesn't that say a lot?
An impartial and lucid BOC will look at the other documents. That's what the duplicate ERs are for: to check cheating.
A partisan or stupid BOC will disregard the other ERs and toss the issue to an election protest, which, of course, spells doom for the duped rival as election protests take ages to resolve.
A legislator, elected under dubious conditions, assumes office while the protest languishes with the same Comelec whose people are accused of pulling the fraud.
It screams
Bogo canvassers were arrested under a citizen's arrest, an action authorized by law. What angry citizens wished for but couldn't do legally was to lynch them from the rafters of Capitol social hall.
A badge of fraud cries out. In Lapu-Lapu City where the total number of votes cast for Arturo Radaza reportedly totaled 187,000 when there were only 148,870 registered voters, the badge of fraud screams.
