Political news , opinions and views for 2010 Presidential election

February 25, 2010

Comelec adds printer at NPO to speed up ballot printing

by Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100224-255137/Comelec-adds-printer-at-NPO-to-speed-up-ballot-printing

 
MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday they will be renting an additional printing press to fast-track the printing of ballots for the May automated elections.

Chairman Jose Melo said they made the move to ``make up for the slight delay in printing.”

The fifth printer would arrive “very soon” at the National Printing Office, which has printed last week the 1.7 million special paper ballots to be used in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“We need to be sure all ballots will be printed,” said Melo.
Comelec only has until April 25 to print over 48 million ballots that would be distributed in over 1,600 municipalities nationwide. The ballot for non-ARMM areas measures 8.5 inches by 25 inches, slightly shorter than the ARMM ballots with Arabic translations for voting instructions.

Melo added that Comelec is also preparing for the conduct of manual poll in at least 30 percent of the country or those areas where transmission technologies cannot be used.

Meanwhile, Gene Gregorio, spokesman of Smartmatic-Total Information Management downplayed the delays in the printing of ballots saying the “fifth printer is rented only to ease the load of printing” not because they are “not within the deadline.”

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