Voter registration ends today – Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — Today is the last day for those intending to participate in the May 2025 elections to register with the Commission on Elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia reminded aspiring Filipino voters here and abroad not to miss the chance to register.

“The end of the voter registration period is September 30 and the Comelec has no intention of extending the registration period,” Garcia yesterday said.

Garcia noted that the Comelec could not extend the deadline for voter registration because the Election Registration Board still needs to evaluate the applications.

The filing of the certificate of candidacy for those running in next year’s polls will begin tomorrow.

From Feb. 12 when voter registration resumed to Sept. 19, the Comelec processed 6,442,112 applications for registration. For Filipinos abroad, the Comelec initiated the voter registration on Dec 9, 2022.

“That’s almost two years of the registration period. In our mind, that’s already quite a long time, and would no longer need any extension,” the poll chief pointed out. 

The Comelec has recorded 1.18 million applications from overseas Filipinos. The number of registered overseas voters for the 2025 elections is expected to reach 1.486 million.

For today, the last day of voter registration, Comelec is expecting a surge in the number of applicants and has readied augmentation teams. 

 The Comelec has also set the procedures for the last day of voter registration in all Offices of Election Officers (OEOs).

Under the rules, if there are still persons waiting in line to file their applications for registration after 3 p.m. and within a 30-meter radius from the OEO, the election assistant shall list down their names consecutively. The applicants shall then be called by announcing each name repeatedly three times in the order in which they were listed. 

Any applicant who is not present when his/her name is called shall no longer be allowed to file an application for registration, transfer or reactivation.