Manila: Over 53 million ballots designated for use in the May 12 midterm elections have already been printed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday.
According to Philippines News Agency, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia provided data indicating that as of 7 a.m. on March 3, a total of 53,418,068 ballots had been printed. Of these, 26,405,051 ballots were produced using printers supplied by South Korean election systems provider Miru Systems Inc., while the remaining 27,013,017 were printed by the National Printing Office (NPO).
The Comelec aims to print more than 69 million ballots for the upcoming national and local elections. Garcia previously stated that they anticipate completing the printing process by the second or third week of March, provided the printing machines continue to perform efficiently.
The printing process, which resumed in late January, had been temporarily suspended following the Supreme Court’s issuance of temporary restraining orders related to the disqualification of certain aspirants.
Additionally, Garcia reported that 12.8 million ballots have already undergone the verification process. The Comelec is utilizing the Amoranto Sports Complex in Quezon City as the venue for verifying printed ballots. The facility is equipped with approximately 250 automated counting machines (ACMs) and an additional 500 verifiers to facilitate both machine and manual verification processes.
