The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday reported that close to 80,000 of the expected 110,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) for next year’s polls have arrived in the country.

The ACMs will be used in the May 2025 national and local elections and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections.

“As of yesterday (Friday), we have almost 80,000 machines already delivered to the warehouse of the Comelec in Biñan, Laguna,” Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in an interview on the sidelines of the ceremonial turnover of printing machines and printing of test ballots at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City.

He said the printing of 1.2 million test ballots is expected to be completed in three days at the most.

The ballots will be used for the nationwide information campaign on the use of ACMs.

Service provider Miru Systems has completed the manufacture of 105,000 ACMs in South Korea.

“That is way ahead of our schedule. We expect to complete our production by next week,” Miru vice president Ken Cho said.

“So by the end of November, for sure everything will be delivered to the Biñan warehouse. That is at least a month ahead of schedule.”

Garcia said there are at least 68 million registered voters nationwide to date as reported by almost 93 percent of election officers.

Comelec would print ballots based on the number of voters, tentatively set to start December.

“We will only print what is necessary, unlike what happened in the past when there were excess ballots,” he said. (PNA)