Comelec eyes reprinting of ballots by Friday or Saturday

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday that it is targeting to begin the reprinting of ballots by Friday or Saturday.

"Balak po ng Comelec simulan ang pag-iimprenta ng balota, kung hindi po sa Biyernes, ay sa Sabado po," Comelec Spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said in a radio interview.

(The Comelec plans to start printing ballots, if not on Friday, then on Saturday.)

The reprinting of ballots, initially scheduled for Wednesday, 22 January, was postponed after the Comelec had to include the name of Francis Leo Marcos.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Comelec's decision to declare Marcos a nuisance candidate.

Laudiangco told reporters earlier that the poll body will need to amend the candidates' database law and add their names into the election management system before reprinting of ballots begins.

Furthermore, Laudiangco said that Comelec will need to generate anew 1,667 ballot faces and have them checked and verified by its Law Department.

The Comelec began printing the 73 million ballots for this year’s elections on 6 January, but the process was halted following the SC’s TRO against the disqualification of several local candidates.

This resulted in the waste of P6 million worth of printed ballots, leading to a financial loss of P132 million.