Comelec Plans to Boost Staff Numbers to Speed Up Ballot Verification Process

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is considering the recruitment of additional staff to accelerate the verification of printed official ballots. Comelec chairperson George Garcia mentioned in a recent interview that they plan to hire an additional 300 workers to support the existing 800 verifiers, citing delays in the verification process. ‘The verification process is lagging behind the printing speed,’ Garcia explained. To address this, the Comelec is exploring the use of the National Irrigation Administration and Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City as potential sites for ballot verification. Despite these challenges, Garcia remains optimistic about meeting the April 14 deadline for completing the printing of over 72 million ballots for the upcoming May 2025 midterm elections. ‘We are on track to meet the April 14 deadline, not only for the printing but also for the verification of the ballots,’ he stated. As of February 4, Comelec data shows that 11,780,626 ballots have been printed, with Miru Systems Inc. producing 5,806,965 and the National Printing Office contributing 5,973,661, which accounts for 16.34 percent of the total 72,107,420 ballots needed. Garcia also noted that their daily printing output has surpassed the initial target of 1.5 million ballots per day, currently reaching 1.8 million, with hopes of increasing to two million ballots daily.