Comelec starts printing of ballots for Eleksyon 2025

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday started printing the 73 million ballots to be used for the 2025 national and local elections (NLE).

Of these 73 million, over 68 million will be used for the national elections, and more than two million will be allocated for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections. At least one million will also be printed for the test ballots for the final testing and sealing (FTS), while the remaining ballots would be used for overseas voting, as well as local absentee voting (LAV). 

The initial batch included ballots for LAV, overseas voting, and test ballots for the FTS. 

LOOK: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) started printing the 73 million ballots to be used for Eleksyon 2025 on Monday, January 6. The printing process is expected to last until April 14, 2025. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/g7vqWsAB8o

— Sundy Locus ???????? (@sundylocus_) January 6, 2025

“Ang kauna-unahan ay overseas voting, local absentee voting, at mga test ballots. Ang sunod niyan ngayong araw na to ay sa Bangsamoro,” said Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia. 

(We will include ballots for overseas voting, local absentee voting, and test ballots in the initial batch. It will be followed by ballots for the Bangsamoro polls.)

“We’re going to release the priority areas. Ang pinakahulihan niyan ‘yung pinakamalapit—NCR,” said Garcia. 

(We’re going to release the priority areas for the printing after this. The last area will be the closest, which is NCR.)

According to the poll body, it is eyeing to print around one million ballots per day, with the printing process to last for 77 days or until April 14, 2025.

Meanwhile, the election chairperson reiterated that aspirants with cases declared as final and executory by the Comelec en banc were excluded from the ballot. This included former Caloocan representative Edgar Erice, who has sought a restraining order against his disqualification and accused poll body officials of corruption.

Those with pending decisions will still be included. 

The Comelec over the weekend bared the new official ballot template for this year's midterm elections. — BM, GMA Integrated News