Comelec to make ‘last push’ for voter registration

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will make one “last push” two weeks before the voter’s registration ends on Oct. 31 to lessen the number of voters who may be disenfranchised in the May 2016 polls, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said yesterday.

“We have less than one month to go. The Comelec will be coming up with a game plan to get our voters to do biometrics registration,” said Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista.

As of Aug. 30, around 3.1 million registered voters still did not have biometrics data with the Comelec so they might not be able to vote next year. So far, around 52 million voters are already in the voters’ lists.

Bautista said while the voter’s registration has been going on at the local Comelec offices and some malls nationwide since May 2014, the Comelec expects a deluge of registrants during the last week of registration.

“We all know that last-minute mentality is already part and parcel of our culture. It’s already there so we are just thinking of the right things to do given the time constraints, given the realities that we are facing,” he added.

Voters have barely three weeks left to register as the Comelec will suspend registration from Oct. 12 to 16 to give way to the filing of certificates of candidacy.

According to Bautista, they are looking at acquiring 100 more fingerprint scanning machines that will be sent to areas with large numbers of voters.

The poll chief has directed election officers in localities where there are still many voters without biometrics to report so they could be the first given the machines.

He said the poll body is also considering extending registration hours at local Comelec offices.

“Most of the voters without biometrics can be found in big regions like Region 4, National Capital Region and Central Luzon so we have to develop strategies that will focus on these voters,” Bautista added.