Comelec started printing of ballots for 85 million voters
More than two months before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 31, the printing of ballots officially start today, Aug. 21.
According to the records of Comelec, there are 85 million voters on the synchronized polls. This is more than the 57 million Filipinos who cast their votes during the May 9 national and local elections.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista witnessed the first day of printing at the National Printing Office, the government-run printing institution.
In an interview, Bautista said the poll body rolled out the printing of its ballots despite proposals from Congress to postpone the elections.
Bautista said they are hoping to receive an advisory from Congress whether or not to push with the Barangay and SK elections within 10 days.
“The long and short of it is we must follow the law, whatever the law may be. Right now, the law says we must have an election on October 31. As long as there is no law that postpones it, we don’t have a choice but to implement the law,” Bautista said.
“And because there is no law yet, and as it is, there are only 70 days before the elections, we are left with no choice but to start printing the ballots already,” he added.
Bautista said the initial price given by NPO to Comelec was P3.80 per ballot but the Comelec managed to haggle for a lower price of P3.15 each.
The poll chief said the elections would be done manually so they intend to assign 400 voters to each polling precinct.
He assured the public that the Comelec has started preparations for other matters concerning the two polls, particularly the bidding process for election paraphernalia.
Bautista said they were hoping to improve on the schedule of preparations.
“As you all know, for the May 2016 elections we were pressed for time, primarily because three of us in the commission were appointed only in May 2015. So, we would like to improve in that area,” he added.
With the allotted time for ballot printing, Bautista said the Comelec aims to finish the printing by October 21.