• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start distributing official ballots to city and municipal treasurer’s offices in 32 local government units in Negros Occidental on May 7, ahead of the national and local elections on May 12.
The official ballots, which arrived on Sunday, are being stored in a Comelec logistics hub in Bacolod City and secured by policemen.
Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said the ballots were already segregated and pre-loaded to cargo trucks for quick delivery to the city halls and municipal halls.
Negros Occidental has a total of 2,009,564 registered voters in 662 barangays in 19 municipalities and 13 cities. It has a total of 2,484 clustered precincts.
Upon delivery, the official ballots based on their initial count will be verified by the local election officers, in the presence of representatives of various political parties and their respective watchers.
Ananoria said the final testing and sealing of the automated counting machines will be conducted on Wednesday to ensure its accuracy.
The official ballots will be delivered to the clustered precincts on election day unless there is an advisory for their early release, he added.
Representatives of the European Union Election Observation Mission Philippines 2025 who will observe the conduct of election in Negros Occidental recently met with Ananoria for a coordination meeting. | GB
