The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Monday reported that the printing of official ballots to be used in the May 9 national and local polls is going on smoothly.

“We are on track with the printing of ballots, in fact, we are past the 17 million ballots we have printed and it is still a bit early to calculate. Our printing is doing well, we are about to reach the peak of the printing capacity. When we reach that point, the printing capacity may exceed 1 million (ballots) a day,” COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez said in a Laging Handa briefing.

A total of 65,721,230 million ballots will be printed for the May polls. The printing is currently ongoing at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.

Also, Jimenez said they have delivered elections materials to different areas in the country in connection with the May 9 polls.

“We have also delivered election supplies and paraphernalia to various places throughout the country. So you really feel that we are close,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jimenez said the demonstration activity of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) in localities has also started as part of their voter’s information campaign.

“Our vote-counting machine road show demo is also starting. This means that all across the country, our officers bring VCMs to various communities so that the public can see what the machine looks like, how it works, and how they will use it on election day. So that’s going on and we expect more roadshow demos,” he added.

There are more than 97,000 VCMs to be used in the upcoming elections. (PNA)