OVER three million official ballots in Cebu Province that will be used in the May 13 election will be distributed to local city and municipal treasurers on Monday, May 6.

In an interview on Saturday, May 4, Acting Provincial Elections Supervisor Jerome Brillantes said the official ballots arrived Friday afternoon, May 3.

“We will deliver them on Monday. There are more than three million ballots for Cebu,” he said.

Meanwhile, a synchronized final testing and sealing of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) in the province will be held on Friday, May 10.

Brillantes said they will invite 10 voters from each of the 3,716 polling precincts in Cebu to participate in the testing of the VCMs.

The VCMs are used in the voting, counting and transmission of election results from the precinct level.

The VCM is distinct to provinces, municipalities and certain precincts.

This means that each machine is assigned to a specific precinct and cannot be interchanged with other VCMs of other precincts because it goes with a specific set of official ballots.

As part of its contingency plan, the Commission on Elections central office has prepared at least 400 back-up VCMs that will be deployed to cities and municipalities in the province. (RTF)