The Commission on Election (Comelec) is now almost halfway done in its printing of the over 63 million ballots for the 2019 midterm polls.
In a press conference, Comelec spokesperson James B. Jimenez said 45 percent or 28,887,821 ballots of the total ballots for the upcoming elections have already been printed by the National Printing Office (NPO) as of March 11.
With the latest development, he said they have a high chance of completing the printing all the ballots and necessary ten days ahead of their original deadline on April 25.
By April 24, Comelec would start deploying the official ballots, accountable forms, other election paraphernalia and the hardware for the automated election system.
Out of 63 million ballots, 61 million will be for the local elections, while 1.8 million will be for the overseas absentee voting (OAV).
“It is very important these ballot are being printed quickly with average of a million ballot per day now,” Jimenez said.
He said this will allow them to ensure there are no errors in the ballots; still have time to reprints ballots if necessary; and have a “gentler” dispatch schedule.
“These various election paraphernalia will be dispatched to the various regional offices of the Comelec throughout the country will follow a staggered schedule, and is targeted to be completed within five days upon the start of dispatch,” Jimenez said.
In a related development, Jimenez said they are also on track with the training of the volunteers, who will serve as members of the Electoral Boards for the May 13 elections.
“Right now we are prioritizing the electoral board serving in the Mindanao area because those are the far areas,” Jimenez said.
He said they will eventually train EB volunteers in Visayas and then in Luzon.