Lapu-Lapu City officials and some candidates and their supporters inspect the official ballots for the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. | Futch Anthony Inso
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu – Official ballots in Lapu-Lapu City for the upcoming Barangay and SK elections were found to bear the same serial numbers.
This was discovered when the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) opened and checked the election paraphernalia on Saturday before these were to be distributed to the different voting precincts in the city.
Those bearing the same serial number were ballot numbers 0000001 to 0008792.
Claire Cabalda, acting city treasurer, explained that ballots with similar numbers should not be a reason to be alarmed after some of those who witnessed the opening and checking of election paraphernalia including some candidates and their supporters pointed this out.
She added that it doesn’t matter if some ballots have the same serial numbers, for as long as voters would receive empty ones on election day.
READ: 2023 Barangay, SK polls: Step-by-step guide to voting, do’s and don’ts
Noel Baguio, the assistant city treasurer believed that the additional ballots were for the newly registered voters in the city.
“Yes kay tungod sa additional. Duna tay additional ballot nga kami pod ana, nahibulong pod mi ana, natingala pod mi ana nganong nagkapareho na sila,” Baguio said.
Baguio revealed that they first received 247,379 official ballots. However, an additional 8,792 were shipped to them.
Cabalda said that these were already allocated.
“Ang atoa lang ana i-assure sa party ug tanang voters, nga ang kadto siya kay properly allocated kay naa man tay guide unsay ihatag nga serial number sa ballot ug asa siya i-allocate,” Cabalda said.
The upcoming Barangay and Sagguniang Kabataan elections are the first to be held since 2018. /rcg
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