MANILA, Philippines - While only three months before election day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decided to make last minute changes in the design of the ballots to “maximize space.”
Comelec Commissoner Gregorio Larrazabal said the new design of the ballots “was discussed with the en banc based on the suggestions of the technical personnel of Smartmatic-TIM and the Comelec.”
“The design is a more efficient distribution of the names of the candidates and political parties to maximize the space of the ballot space,” he said.
In the new design, the names of the candidates will be clustered horizontally to the positions that they are running for.
But the names of the candidates would still be printed horizontally in four columns.
In the old design, the names of candidates are printed in four columns horizontally.
But just like in the original design, the ballots will still be color coded on each category or elective position.
“The first design was simple, (now) it (is) improved,” Larrazabal added.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the new design has shortened the ballot by an inch, from 26 to 25 inches. Its width remains at eight inches.
Jimenez, however, admitted the printing of the ballots to be used in training the voters and the members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) is already finished using the old design.
Jimenez though assured the new design would not pose a problem since the changes would be explained later during the training.
The printing of the official ballots has been delayed due to the pending disqualification cases against some candidates. The ballots should contain the list of all the candidates participating in the May 10 elections.
Comelec said the printing of the ballots would start on Feb. 7.
Ramon Casiple, a member of the Comelec Advisory Council and executive director of the Consortium on Electoral Reform, said they were not consulted about the new ballot design.
“All the while we’ve been expecting (what is in our) normal orientation – the horizontal arrangement. People (voters) are used to horizontal (ballot),” he said.