SAN JOSE, Antique – Ballots for the May 13, 2019 midterm elections were verified in this capital town yesterday.
On Wednesday, municipal election officer Atty. Rommel Benliro invited local candidates to witness the ballot verification.
“We invited candidates – or if they could not come, their representatives – for the ballot verification at the Municipal Hall at 9 a.m.,” said Benliro.
San Jose and other towns in the province received the ballots and other election paraphernalia last week from the Commission on Elections provincial office.
“As for the Vote Counting Machines (VCM), there will be a simultaneous final testing and sealing on May 10,” Benliro said.
The VCMs for this municipality will be delivered on today (May 10) directly to polling precincts. They will no longer be placed under the custody of the municipal treasurer.
Benliro said about five to six units of VCMs per town will be readied as substitute in case of malfunction.
“We have already trained technical support staff or information technology experts,” he added.
The technical support staff would be on-hand to do troubleshooting in case of technical problems.
Benliro said marking pens with the 2019 National and Local Election label have been recalled by the Comelec central office after finding out they were not quick-dry and might cause problems in the optical scanner.
“We expect though to have replacement for the marking pens to arrive just before election day,” he said.
Benliro added that there are enough marking pens that were used during the 2013 election that could still be used on May 13. (PNA/PN)
