THE Commission on Elections said Sunday it will start the printing of more than 55 million official ballots for the May 9 elections at the National Printing Office in Quezon City today, Monday.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said there will be dry runs before the ballots are printed.
“There will be several preparatory parts just like in factories, so we will most likely have a dry run first this Monday,” he said.
The Comelec will be printing the ballots using the three Canon printers at the NPO. It will be printing ballots for the 54,363,844 registered voters and 1,376,067 absentee voters abroad, as well as those needed in the final testing and sealing of the vote-counting machines.
“It will be one [ballot] to one [voter],” Bautista said.
I know there is a call for extra ballots, but it could pose a problem since it can be perceived as a potential tool for poll irregularities.”
Bautista said they were looking to finish the ballot printing by April 25.
To be printed in front of the ballot are the names of the candidates for president, vice president, senators and party-list groups, while the names of the candidates for local positions like mayor, governor and councilor, will be printed in the back.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they were ready to start printing the ballots.
“We have a buildup process in ballot printing which we call ramping up,” Jimenez said.
“It will be a bit slow at the start, but at its peak it can average almost a million per day. So this will really be quick.”
The original start of the ballot printing was Jan. 26 but it was moved twice: first to Feb. 1 and then to Feb. 8.
