Comelec eyes Jan. 20 for 2025 ballot reprinting after SC halt
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to begin reprinting ballots for the 2025 elections on Monday, January 20, its chairman George Garcia announced on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) against the poll body regarding the cases of five election aspirants, halting the ballot printing process. The Commission on Elections (Comelec), which began printing ballots on January 6, had already produced approximately six million ballots.
READ: Comelec to destroy 6 million printed ballots for 2025 polls
“Sana po Monday, makapagsimula na. ‘Yung election management system [EMS] po natin na gagawin ay sana po magawa in three days pagkatapos mayroon po tayong gagawing bagong EMS. At lahat ng ballot faces ay babaguhin, pati ‘yung serialization,” Garcia said in a press conference.
(Hopefully, we can start by Monday. The EMS we’ll be working on should ideally be completed in three days, after which a new EMS will be created. All ballot faces will also be revised, including serialization.)
Article continues after this advertisementHe explained that the EMS, a system that manages the contents and process of printing ballots, currently lacks a feature to add a candidate once the list has been finalized. However, the poll body plans to introduce this as a new feature.
Article continues after this advertisementFurthermore, the Comelec chief also said that the new ballot faces must first be published on the Comelec’s website as a signal that the poll body is ready to begin reprinting ballots.
“Asahan niyo po na ang ballot faces ay mailabas namin after ng EMS, after ng lahat, baka hanggang Lunes o Martes. Magpiprint tayo ng balota, bago magprint, dapat nandyan. Ang printing natin ay Lunes. Either sa Linggo o Lunes, available na ang ballot faces,” Garcia added.
(You can expect the ballot faces to be released after the EMS and everything else is finalized, possibly by Monday or Tuesday. Before we start printing ballots, the ballot faces must be ready. Our printing is scheduled for Monday, so the ballot faces will be available either on Sunday or Monday.)
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Meanwhile, Garcia mentioned that the mock elections, originally scheduled on Saturday, will commence on January 25 if they finalize the amendments from the reprinting of ballots.