Comelec gives ballot a "makeover"

In order to keep the ballot shorter for the May 10 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has decided to incorporate last-minute changes in its layout.

Upon the recommendation of the poll body's technical working committee and consortium Smartmatic-Tim Corp., the new design would have the names of the candidates listed horizontally instead of vertically.

In the initial layout, the names of the candidates and the positions they are running for were arranged in columns. Under the new design, the names will be written in rows.

Meanwhile, the 144 participating party-list groups will be listed with only their acronyms and a corresponding number. The numbers will be “pre-released” by the Comelec so the groups can use it for their campaign.

“The design is a more efficient distribution of the names of the candidates and political parties to maximize the space of the ballot face,” said Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal.

The horizontal design will shorten the ballot to 25 inches, one inch shorter than its previous 26 inches, according to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

To avoid confusion, Jimenez said that the Comelec will have to work “double time” to inform voters of the new ballot design.

“We will prepare a mockup for the media as soon as possible,” he said, adding that they will publish the new look of the ballots in newspaper ads once they have been printed.

Jimenez said that the change in layout is “not that critical,” since what is important is educating the voters on how to properly shade the oval next to the candidates' names.

The ballot will be divided into sections, each of which will have a color code. The sections will be colored blue for the president, vice president, congressmen, provincial governor, and councilors, while the section for senators, party-list groups, provincial board members, and municipal mayor will be colored green.

Gov't printing office also given makeover

Aside from the ballot, the government also gave its official printing office a makeover.

The Comelec has given the National Printing Office P110 million for the renovation of its main office in Quezon City and for the purchase of printing equipment.

The budget would also cover manpower, rental, and utility bills.

Four Kodak printers, which were provided by Smartmatic, could print 800,000 ballots a day, “round-the-clock,” according to Larrazabal.

“It will only take NPO 60 to 70 days to print all the ballots,” he added.

Each ballot will have unique, embedded security marks provided by the NPO and Smartmatic. The ballot would also be “vacuum-sealed” to withstand different humidity conditions once out in the field.

Although the printing of ballots would be made available for public viewing, NPO director Servando Hizon said that adequate security measures are installed in the presses. Security personnel would also work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the printing is finished.

“We are in the process of making arrangements to have additional CCTV [cameras], and this will enable watchers from different parties to access information and view the premises at any given time,” he said.

The printing of ballots for the May 2010 elections will commence on February 7, Sunday. There will be a total of 50,723,734 ballots printed, equivalent to the total number of registered voters in the country, said RMN.ph.

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