By Leslie Ann Aquino
The ballots to be used for overseas absentee voting in the May 13 midterm polls will look different from the one that will be used here.
COMELEC Spokesman James Jimenez (ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN)
Commission on Elections Spokesman James Jimenez explained that OAV ballots will only contain the names of senators and partylist groups.
"Since they will vote only for national positions, the ballot for overseas will only contain the names of senators and partylist groups," he said in an interview.
"That's also the reason why ballots for overseas voting needed special printing because they look very differently,” added Jimenez.
The Comelec earlier announced that it already finished printing the 1.7 million ballots for overseas voting at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, COMELEC - Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) Director Elaiza Sabile-David said they are already preparing to deploy the official ballots and other poll paraphernalia that are set to be used for OAV this month.
"We have started the packing of ballots, which will be shipped to the different posts to be delivered to voters overseas,” she said.
“The first shipment will be this March, more likely this second week of March,” added David.
Aside from the ballots, she said that the instructions to voters and the list of candidates for the 2019 elections, among others, will also be included in the shipping.
Voting for overseas voters will begin on April 13, a month ahead of the Election Day in the Philippines.