The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it has made significant progress in printing ballots for the May 2025 elections, with nearly 30 million ballots printed as of Saturday.
This represents 41% of the total 72 million ballots that need to be printed, according to Comelec chair George Garcia.
However, only around 5.5 million to 6 million ballots have been verified so far, highlighting the need to accelerate the verification process. Garcia explained that ballots, like money, are prone to printing errors such as incorrect cuts, colors, or smudges. To ensure accuracy, each ballot undergoes a two-level verification process: manual inspection by over 1,000 personnel at the National Printing Office, followed by machine verification. Ballots that fail either level are rejected.
Garcia noted that the rejection rate is around 7 to 8%, which he considers low. However, every rejected ballot needs to be reprinted and undergo the same verification process. He emphasized the importance of sending the exact number of ballots to each precinct to avoid any suspicion of missing ballots.
Despite the challenges, Garcia assured that all ballots will be printed by March 19 and verified by April 14, well ahead of the May 12 Election Day.