MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections has decided to postpone to Wednesday the transfer of some of the printed ballots to be used in the May 2010 automated elections.
Poll officials said the ballots were supposed to be transferred from the National Printing Office in Quezon City to the PhilPost warehouse in Manila for storage on Tuesday. At least 27 million special ballots for the automated elections have been printed as of March 30.
Several political parties, however, objected to the transfer since they were not given enough time to prepare for the move.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body will continue to pack and prepare the ballots for eventual transfer to the PhilPost warehouse on Wednesday. He said political parties may accompany the ballots in transit until they are delivered.
He said the ballots will be scanned before departure from the NPO and then scanned again upon entry into PhilPost's Manila facility.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo earlier said he is confident that the poll body will beat the April 30 deadline to print all 50 million ballots needed for the May 10 automated elections. With a report from Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News