Comelec officials display printed ballots for the upcoming midterm elections, March 15, 2025. Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday completed the printing of over 68.5 million official ballots for this year’s midterm elections, making it to its self-imposed deadline. 

Now that the ballots are printed, the next steps are the final testing and sealing, which takes place until the middle of April, said Comelec Chairman George Garcia. 

"Kapag nagkaroon ng isang defective ballots, dalawang defective ballots, o kung ilan man ay nire-reprint kaagad ng National Printing Office. Ang susunod na ide-deploy ay mga balota, yung mga makina ay isa-isa nanating dineploy sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng bansa," said Garcia. 

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Around two million ballots were considered bad or defective and must be reprinted. 

The reprinting, according to the official, is already underway and will only last for a few days. 

"Dahan-dahan na po namin nire-reprint siya … Hopefully ma-reprint natin yung 2 million. Halos isang araw lang yun kaya lang hindi ganoon kadali ang pagre-reprint kasi hindi siya katulad ng regular printing na dire-diretso," he said. 

"Sa reprinting, bawat presinto ng bawat bayan o bawat siyudad ay kinakailangan i-reprint. Again, hindi isyu yun," he said. 

After undergoing the final testing and sealing, the ballots would be transferred to Comelec’s warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for safekeeping.

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"Hindi porke't na-print ito ay tapos na. In fact, base sa coordination natin sa Philippine National Police, lahat ng truck na maghahatid ng mga balota mula sa Sta. Rosa hanggang sa Pier, Sta. Rosa hanggang sa airport ay may kasamang Philippine National Police, may kasamang escort. Mayroon kaming monitoring sa operations center na naka-link. Dapat alam namin nasaan na ang cargo, ano na ang updates, saang lugar na nandoon," said Garcia. 

Comelec urged voters to be careful in shading the ballots, as an individual would only receive one ballot. 

The poll body also reminded the public not to draw on or take a photo of a shaded ballot.