MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is nearing the final stages of printing the official ballots for the May 12 midterm elections.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia reported that approximately 61 million official ballots have already been printed at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.
“We are now at about 92 percent completion with the ballot printing,” Garcia stated in an interview on Tuesday.
However, Garcia noted that much work remains, particularly in the verification process, with only 36 million ballots having passed this stage.
“We need to improve our verification process. On average, we should be able to verify around 1.2 million ballots daily,” he added.
During verification, ballots must undergo both manual checks and automated counting machines (ACMs).
As the ballot printing nears completion, Garcia mentioned that personnel will be reassigned from the printing operations to focus on the verification process.
“We will reallocate our personnel from printing to assist with the verification of ballots,” he said.
Additionally, Garcia emphasized that more space will be needed at the NPO once printing wraps up.
“We need to clear additional space at the NPO to accommodate extra machines and personnel for verification,” he added.
A total of 72,097,420 ballots are required for the upcoming elections.
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