Ballot Papers Will Be Ready on Monday

The ballots for the upcoming referendum, to be held on May 7, will be ready on Monday April 18. According to the Military Geographical Institute (IGM), 11.15 million ballots will be printed for Ecuadorians to exercise their right to vote, this is the eighth time in the last six years (since 2006) that Ecuadorians have been called for elections.

The IGM is printing 700.000 papers per day for the electoral process; so far 65.75% of the ballots have been printed, Colonel Fabian Cardenas, director of the Institute, said. Other election documents, including minutes, registers, voting, and presentation certificates will be printed by the IGM as well. The institute is charging $ 896,000 for both contracts ($ 598,000 for the electoral documents and $ 298,000 for the ballots).

206,255 of the ballots will be sent abroad for Ecuadorian migrants who live mostly in Spain, Italy, and the United States

The distribution of election materials will be made on May 1st. The ballots will be sent abroad with one week of anticipation and they will be distributed within the country three daysbefore the election, access to stocks will only be available via water or air.

For the convenience of the blind, the IGM printed 5.000 braille templates, one per every ten polling stations.

Source: El Universo Newspaper