Ballots to be shipped in April, says Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start shipping out the official ballots for next year’s polls two weeks before the May 9, 2016, elections.

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said the printing of the ballots is expected to be completed by April 25, leaving a two-week period within which to distribute the ballots to all precincts nationwide.

“In terms of printing [the ballots] out, it must be finished before April 25. After that date we intend to start shipping them out,” Lim said in a press briefing.

The ballots for distant places, however, will be shipped out way before April 25, he said. These are the ballots for Mindanao and Batanes.

“We start production for the most faraway places, looking at Mindanao, Batanes. We will produce the first ballots for those places. The moment they’re ready, we’ll transport them even earlier than April 25,” Lim said, adding that this would be around the first or second week of April.

“By April 25 all machines should be already packed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Comelec reiterated that it was unlikely to extend the registration for voters for the May 2016 elections.

The poll body said it has given voters enough time to register and the Comelec needs the remaining time to prepare for the automated elections.

There are still 3.8 million voters who have yet to have their biometrics data taken, according to the Comelec.

Voter registration started on May 6, 2014, and is set to end on Oct. 31.—Tina G. Santos