A ballot intended for Antique was found in a group of ballots in a precinct in Lapu-Lapu City. CDN Digital photo | Futch Anthony Inso
(Updated 12:44 p.m.) Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu—A ballot intended for Jaguikican, Laua-an, Antique was found in a group of ballots at the Canjulao Elementary School in Lapu-Lapu City on Monday morning, May 13, 2019.
Ricardo Dungog, 52, a resident of Purok Manga, barangay Canjulao, was the person who received the wrong ballot when he went to cast his votes at around 9 a.m.
Dungog, though, said he never noticed that the ballot that he was filling up was intended for Antique.
“Wala, wala ko kabantay,” Dungog said.
He said that it was a member of the electoral board who noticed that the ballot that he received did not contain official candidates of Lapu-Lapu City.
His ballot was immediately replaced.
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Nemesia Dacullo, chairman of the Electoral Board in Cluster precinct 77, told reporters that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) might have accidentally mixed the said ballot to the groups of ballots intended for voters in Canjulao Elementary School.
She admitted that they didn’t check the ballot before giving it to Dungog.
“We will check the other ballots to make sure that no other ballots was mixed up,” Dacullo said.
She said that they will report the incident to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Because of this incident, Dacullo said she is now worried that the ballots assigned to their precinct might fall short.
Dacullo is also worried that some of the ballots that they received have no serial numbers.
But she said these ballots will still be accepted and read by the vote counting machines (VCMs).
Meanwhile, Comelec Lapu-Lapu City Election Supervisor Atty. Reiner Layson said the misdelivered ballot was already sent to his office by the principal of the Canjulao Elementary School along with two watchers from the opposing candidates.
The ballot will be delivered to the regional office of Comelec.
On the serial number issue, he said that the official ballots only contain ballot ID numbers and QR codes. /bmjo
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