Printing of ballots for 2016 polls finished by April

MANILA, Philippines - The printing of official ballots to be used for the May 2016 polls is expected to be completed in April next year, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

“Printing the ballots should be finished by April 25 and after that, we intend to start shipping them out,” said Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim.

Like in previous elections, Lim said the ballots intended for polling precincts in remote areas in the country would be delivered first.

He said the ballots for Metro Manila voting centers would be the last to be delivered.

Lim said they want the printing of ballots to be finished early so they would have enough time in case there are errors.

The number of ballots to be printed will depend on the actual number of registered voters. The poll body is eyeing around 53 million voters for the 2016 general elections.

“We will determine how many ballots are needed on November 16 when the ERB (Election Registration Board) shall have finished the hearings. But the allocation is one ballot for every voter,” Lim said.

The ERB is tasked to deliberate on applications for voter’s registration and petitions to disqualify voters.

Earlier, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the ballots would be printed at the government-run National Printing Office (NPO).

Bautista said they would be meeting with the NPO to determine if it is capable of doing the actual printing. Otherwise, Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. will have to provide the printing machines.