Comelec eyeing to save 2.3 million BARRM polls ballots

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA)
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia made this known on Thursday as around six million ballots—including those for the upcoming Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) polls—are set to be disposed due to adjustments brought about by a Supreme Court (SC) ruling.
Every ballot costs around P22 each, and the destruction of six million ballots will cost P132 million, said Garcia.
The SC on Wednesday blocked the Comelec move to declare Subair Guinthum Mustapha as a nuisance candidate, which means the poll body should include his name on the list of candidates for senator.
The ballot printing for local and absentee voters as well as for BARRM parliamentary elections already began on Jan. 6, but was halted right after the SC ruling came out.
The ballots for local and absentee voters only contain candidates for national posts including senators, making its destruction necessary to reflect Mustafa’s name in line with SC’s directive.
Article continues after this advertisementFor BARRM election ballots, it only contains 109 parliamentary aspirants vying for 65 parliamentary district seats, so SC’s ruling should have no effect.
Article continues after this advertisementGarcia, however, noted that every ballot, including those for BARRM elections, is “serialized.”
“Therefore, it may come to a point that it could not be printed in other places because there is a serial number for every ballot,” Garcia explained in Filipino.
“That is one of the things we are resolving.”
Garcia said they are waiting for the recommendation of the Comelec’s information and technology or IT department if these ballots could be retained or not.
“Perhaps, the 2.3 million ballots for the parliament could be saved from destruction,” Garcia said.
BARRM is set to conduct its first-ever parliamentary elections concurrent to the May 12 midterm elections.
This means that some 2.3 million registered voters in the autonomous region are going to cast two ballots—one for national and one for parliamentary—come Election Day.