Shipping of election materials to start this week: Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start sending election paraphernalia, including official ballots, to the different parts of the country this week. (Photo by Brian Evans/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start sending election paraphernalia, including official ballots, to the different parts of the country this week.

This, as the bill proposing postponement of this month’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls has yet to be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez, said the shipping of non-accountable forms to cities and municipalities in Luzon and Visayas will begin on Thursday.

He noted that the deployment of the 59.5 million official ballots to be used in the village and youth elections will start next week.

“The shipping of official ballots are expected to begin October 11,” Jimenez said in a statement Tuesday.

He added that the deployment will begin with the farthest areas while ballots for Metro Manila will be delivered last.
Jimenez noted that shipped ballots would be under the custody of the local treasurer’s office in the event the law postponing the polls is signed.

“If it’s already with the municipal treasurer, then custody is likely to remain with them. Storage for unshipped ballots, meanwhile, will be at a COMELEC designated warehouse or storage facility,” he explained.

The poll body has already completed the printing all the 59,548,410 ballots for barangay and SK polls.

The House of Representatives has adopted the Senate version of the bill calling for the postponement of the polls to May 2018.