Printing of ballots 80% complete – Comelec

THE printing of 72 million ballots that will be used in the May 12 midterm polls is at 80 percent and will be completed by next week, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday. "Eighty percent have already been printed out of the 72 million ballots needed ... around 12 million remain to be printed. We will finish printing all the ballots between March 14 [and] 15," Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said. The poll chief admitted that the manual and machine verifications of each printed ballot could not catch up with the pace of printing, saying that the verification process would be completed by April. Ballots that were found to be defective, both manually and by machine, would be reprinted immediately, and the defective ballots would be destroyed. "Our printing is very fast but verification is slow," said Garcia. The Comelec is using the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City because they need a big space for the manual verification of ballots, and as well as to accommodate the 500 automated counting machines (ACMs) for the verification process. Garcia pointed out that preparations for the elections is much better than in previous electoral exercises. He added that the deployment of election paraphernalia including official ballots and vote counting machines would be done a month before the scheduled May 12 elections. Garcia said the farthest or far-flung areas would be given priority. Overall, he said, preparations for the polls were 95 percent complete. Meanwhile, the Comelec has partnered with the Departments of Science and Technology, and Information and Communications Technology to ensure that the 2025 elections will be "technological, efficient and credible." The memorandum of agreement was signed on Tuesday at the Comelec head office at the Palacio del Gobernador with Garcia, Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum, and Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy. Garcia acknowledged the vital role of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the conduct of automated elections, as the agency is responsible for conducting various tests on ACMs, including stress tests, electrical tests, and others — to ensure that equipment is reliable and in good working condition. "Even our ballot boxes underwent their assessment, including a waterproofing test to ensure they would not leak. With the guidance of the DOST, we were able to select the best equipment for our elections," he said. Solidum, meanwhile, said that under Republic Act 9369, DOST will ensure that electoral board members are trained to operate the ACMs.