Manual voting set for barangay, SK polls: Comelec

MANILA - The Commission on Elections will revert to manual voting for the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, its spokesman said Tuesday.

Some 77 million ballots have been printed for the exercise. The 2016 vote, which saw the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, was automated.

The SK ballots are printed in red, while those for the barangay are printed in black, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said. Voters need to write down the names of their chosen candidates, he said.

Voters aged 15 to 17 will be given the SK ballot, those aged 31 years and above will be given the barangay ballot, while those aged 18 to 30 will be given both ballots.

Ballots in Mindanao have the correct date of May 2018, but in Luzon and Visayas, the date is October 2017 because these were printed before the village-level vote was postponed last year, Jimenez said.

Nicknames and aliases of candidates are allowed but these should be specified in the aspirant's certificate of candidacy.

It is also not mandatory for voters to fill up the entire slot, and if one cannot write, the law allows for the voter to have an “assistor” to write for the illiterate or disabled voter. The assistor must be a family member, a relative, or the election officer of the voting precinct.

Requests for second ballot will not be allowed, he said.

Elections will push through in Barangay Roxas, Iloilo City despite reports that almost all voters there have transferred to other villages since it was transformed into a business area, Comelec said.