FILE PHOTO: Workers at the National Printing Office in Quezon City check ballots for the May 9 polls to separate the “good ballots” from those that are defective. – Commission on Elections Commissioner George Garcia says on Monday, March 21, 2022, that they have so far printed 55,579,298 ballots or 82.4 percent of the total ballots needed for elections on May 9. INQUIRER/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Close to 106,000 printed ballots that were deemed defective ahead of the national elections on May 9 will be burned soon, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday.
During a briefing before the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said that as of March 21, a total of 105,853 ballots were considered defective.
“Iba talaga ‘yung cut, iba ‘yung size, ‘yung color talaga medyo hindi magkatugma dun sa color as required by our guidelines and specifications. Tapos may mga dots, may mga smudge po ‘yung sa balota,” Garcia said.
“Para mas ma-satisfy ang ating Committee, these defective ballots will be presented to the public, accounted for individually with proper data, at ang lahat ng ito ay susunugin in front of all the political parties, the candidates, and their representatives,” he added.
The Comelec official said the poll body has so far printed 55,579,298 ballots or 82.4 percent of the total ballots needed for this year’s elections. The commissioner said they should be able to print 67,432,616 ballots for the May 9 polls.
Garcia said they are eyeing to finish the printing of ballots by the second week of April, including the re-printing of ballots to replace the defective ones.
Further, Garcia said that 106,174 vote-counting machines (VCMs) will be used nationwide for the May elections. Of this number, 60,490 VCMs have been delivered for prepositioning.
Comelec earlier began streaming the printing of official ballots for the May 9 polls on its social media platforms following complaints from candidates and political parties.