Comelec finishes printing ballots for ARMM

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finished printing the almost two million ballots that will be used in the May 10 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). “We’ve already completed all the ballots for ARMM," said Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, adding that the ballots would be stored at the National Printing Office (NPO) for the meantime pending shipment to ARMM's five provinces and one city. "Shipping of the ballots should be a short while before the elections," he said. As of January 15, there are a total of 1,882,339 voters in ARMM, each of whom is entitled to one ballot. The ballots for ARMM are 27 inches long, which are two inches longer than the normal 25-inch ballot, because the instructions on it have Arabic translations. Larrazabal said this was one of the reasons why they prioritized the printing of ballots for ARMM. Another reason was preparation for the implementation of the proposed early voting in Mindanao. Larrazabal assured the ballots are well secured at the NPO, saying there is a plan to install 14 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in addition to the existing 12. NPO director Servando Hizon had earlier said that 64 physical security personnel are stationed at the ballot printing area 24/7, with more to be added in the coming days. The NPO temporarily ceased ballot printing for 12 hours to recalibrate the printers and get them ready to print the normal size ballots. "[The] machines have to be recalibrated then we go on with the main printing," said Larrazabal. After this, he said that printing will be conducted non-stop for 24 hours. Earlier, Larrazabal said it will take the printers about 60 to 70 days to print all the official ballots for the May polls, with each printer having the capacity of printing 200,000 ballots. The commissioner said the ballots will be printed on 160 GSM papers imported from Canada. The poll body said it would only print ballots based on the number of voters who registered from December 2008 to Oct. 31, 2009. As of January 15, there are already a total number of 50,723,734 registered voters, 37,422 voting centers, and 76,340 clustered precincts. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV