Comelec: 106K defective ballots within ‘margin of error’

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez on Tuesday maintained that the nearly 106,000 ballots for the May 9 polls considered defective represent only a small percentage of the total number of ballots to be printed, and that they are still within the "margin of error."

Asked during a Laging Handa briefing if a huge amount of money was wasted due to the printed defective ballots, Jimenez said, “Sa tingin naman po namin, hindi mangyayari ‘yan. Katunayan, itong bilang ng defective ballots natin so far, sa pagkakaintindi ko, pasok pa ito sa margin of error ng mga ganitong klaseng projects.”

(We don't think that will happen. In fact, this number of defective ballots we have so far, as I understand, is still within the margin of error of these kinds of projects.)

“Malaking project po kasi ito, we’re looking at 67 million ballots tapos ang defective mo sa 100,000 mahigit. That is a very small percentage, right?” he added.

(This is a big project, we’re looking at 67 million ballots and then your defective is over 100,000. That is a very small percentage, right?)

Newly appointed Comelec Commissioner George Garcia on Monday noted that a total of 105,853 ballots that were found with smudges, improper cuts and colors, or unmatched timestamps will be burned in front of candidates, political parties, or their representatives.

At least 82.4% or 55,579,298 ballots out of 67,432,616 total ballots had been printed by the National Printing Office (NPO).

The remaining 18% of ballots yet to be printed could, however, not be assured to be defect-free, Garcia said.

“Kung titingnan natin historically, talagang meron po tayong range ng error na nakikita na tinatawag nating wastage or errors. So pasok pa naman po tayo do’n,” Jimenez said.

(If we look historically, we actually have a range of errors that we call wastage or errors. We are still within that.)

The Comelec spokesperson said the NPO will be open on Thursday for random testing on ballots by election stakeholders.—LDF, GMA News