The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start the distribution of official ballots for the May 12 midterm elections starting today.
“The ballots will be directly deployed to the city or municipal treasurers’ offices,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said yesterday.
Garcia said the initial ballots to be distributed will be for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Caraga region, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Batanes.
Each of the 68.5 million ballots was subjected to both manual and machine verification to confirm that they met the required standards for color, timing marks, alignment, and other specifications.
The poll chief also said that all election materials, including batteries for the automated counting machines (ACMs) and ballot boxes, have been dispatched to various Comelec hubs nationwide for efficient distribution to towns and cities.
“We assure you that there will be no issues with ballot availability on May 12,” the election chief said.
“All ballots must be deployed before we begin the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS),” Garcia noted.
Based on the Comelec schedule, the mandatory FTS is set to be held from May 2 to 10.
After the FTS, the electoral boards shall close and seal the voting machines which will only be opened on election day.ication from public office, along with other penalties.
