Highest turnout so far: Comelec prints over 1.8M ballots in 1 day 

SCRUTINY. Technicians inspect a printing machine for ballots and other forms for the 2025 midterm polls at the National Printing Office in Quezon City on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024). South Korean contractor Miru Systems delivered two machines on Sept. 16 and 21. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday recorded the highest number of printed ballots in a day for the 2025 elections, with its output recorded at over 1.8 million.

In a Viber message to the media on Saturday, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the two new HP printing machines produced 914,843 ballots.

These equipment were part of the signed deal with Miru Systems as the poll body’s automated election systems provider.

READ: Comelec resumes printing of ballots for May polls

On the other hand, the Canon printers from the National Printing Office (NPO) churned out 943,994 ballots.

This brings the total number of printed ballots on Friday to 1,858,837.

Garcia also confirmed to INQUIRER.net through Viber that this is the first time the poll body printed such a large number of ballots in a span of one day since the printing machines started grinding for the 2025 elections.

READ: 6 million printed ballots for 2025 polls to be destroyed by Comelec

Ballot printing

He previously said that the Comelec targets to print around 1.5 million ballots per day, lower than the 1.8 million produced on Friday.

When asked how the poll body is looking to hit its target print per day, Garcia answered: “[A]chievable. Realistic. Hopeful.”

READ: Comelec urged to include bets with SC appeals on ballot

The Comelec began printing ballots last January 6, resulting in approximately 6 million initial ballots.

However, the poll body immediately stopped its production after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order.

The Comelec had to follow the high tribunal’s order to include the names of some senatorial aspirants that were initially declared as nuisance candidates by the poll body.

READ: SC grants TRO vs cancellation of Jonas Cortes’ COC

The printing, which was delayed thrice, resumed last Monday.

The Comelec chief previously said that the ballots for Caraga region in Mindanao and Batanes, as well the ballots for local and overseas absentee voters, were already finished.

Partially terminated

Meanwhile, Garcia said on Monday that the Comelec “partially terminated” its contract with Miru System, which was supposed to print the whole ballots.

He explained that the move was necessary to make sure that the ballot printing would be completed on or before the April 14 deadline.

The Comelec’s printing committee then said that the HP printers are expected to print 36,244,762 ballots while the Canon printers from NPO are expected to produce the remaining 35,881,871 ballots.