800 official ballot boxes delivered to Ilocos Norte ahead of May 9 polls

Vote-counting machines (VCMs) and their external batteries are delivered to the five island barangays of Dagupan City on Thursday, May 5. Elsewhere in the Ilocos region, VCMs are being delivered to various polling precincts days before the May 9 electrons. (Photo by Wllie Lomibao)

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — At least 800 boxes containing the official ballots to be used by voters in Ilocos Norte province during the May 9 polls were delivered on Monday, May 2, the provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

Ilocos Norte, which is divided into two districts, has a total of 430,000 registered voters, according to the data from the Comelec.

Comelec said these ballots were stored for safekeeping at the treasurer’s office of the various local government units in the province.

Meanwhile, provincial election supervisor and lawyer Joel Gines said the final testing and sealing of all vote-counting machines (VCMs) would be done on Friday, May 6.

He said in the event of any glitches, the Comelec would have sufficient time to replace the defective machines.

The provincial Comelec, together with local police, had already started distributing the VCMs in various polling places in the province.

Comelec said it prioritized distribution in remote areas. It had also prepared a contingency plan to make sure that voting on May 9 would not be interrupted by testing of the generator sets to be used in the polling areas.

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