THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) expects a last-minute surge in voter registration today, September 30, the deadline for filing an application to be able to vote in the 2025 elections.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia reiterated that the registration period would not be extended so as not to jeopardize ongoing preparations for the May 12 polls.
The system of continuing registration started on February 12.
Today is also the last day for overseas voting registration.
“No more extension. We have already provided enough time; otherwise, it will affect our timeline,” Garcia said.
He said the Comelec had to finalize the voters list, the project of the precinct and the list of voters who will be transferred to other precincts.
Garcia said that historically, a surge always happens on the last registration day period because of the Filipinos’ “last-day syndrome.”
Comelec records show that as of September 19, 6,442,112 have applied for registration.
More than 3 million were new voters, including more or less 100,000 reactivated voters.
Garcia said that while the Comelec had already reached its goal of enlisting 3 million new voters, a huge chunk of the 5.3 million deactivated voters had yet to reactivate their status.
Voters are placed on the deactivated list if they fail to vote in two successive elections.
A voter is also removed from the list because of a court decision, among other reasons.
Garcia said there were 66 million registered voters, although the Comelec projects 70 million to 71 million voters in 2025.
The commission clarified, though, that those who filled up the registration forms were not automatically registered.
It is the city or municipal Election Registration Board (ERB) that decides whether to approve or deny an application.
At the end of every registration, the ERB will conduct a hearing to finalize the list of registered voters.
Earlier, Garcia said the Comelec was eyeing to annul the list of registered voters after the 2025 polls and conduct a new registration using new technology to ensure the integrity of the voters’ list.
If Congress supports his proposal, the new registration will take about three months using an entirely new technology, including iris scanning, facial recognition, and fingerprint scanning of all 10 fingers.
Currently, the Comelec uses the Automated Fingerprint Identification System to check for double or multiple registration.
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