Voters with incomplete data can vote—Comelec

CEBU, Philippines - Registered voters with incomplete or corrupted biometrics data will still be allowed to vote on May 9, 2016 national and local elections, an official of the Commission on Elections-Cebu clarified yesterday.

Comelec-Cebu election officer Ferdinand Gujilde said the clarification was made through a memorandum issued by the poll body’s head office on Tuesday.

He told The FREEMAN that notices were already sent to registered voters whose biometrics data files got corrupted. Affected registered voters with corrupted biometrics which could no longer be recovered through the backup files were also asked to have their biometrics data captured again.

The Comelec earlier reported that some 1.9 million biometric records it received from the election officers in municipalities and cities across the country were found to be ‘corrupted,’ attributing the problem to computer error.

The deadline of registration, including submission of biometrics, ended last October 31.

As of October 31, Cebu recorded a total of 2.6 million registered voters, an increase of more than a hundred thousand compared to the data in September.

Gujilde, however, said the figure is not yet final since the applications for registration are still subject for approval by the Election Registration Board. A total of 74, 110, or 2. 76 percent of the 2.6 million registered voters in Cebu, failed to submit their biometrics data, while the number of those with incomplete biometrics was 7, 939.

Gujilde said registered voters without biometrics, not those with incomplete data, are the ones barred from voting in 2016 elections.

Under Republic Act 10367 or the Act Providing for Mandatory  Biometrics Voter Registration, voters who fail to submit the biometrics data will be deactivated from the voters’ list.

Gujilde said those who are deactivated will have to register again 30 days after the election day.— (FREEMAN)