500,000 new voters register for barangay, SK polls in December

POLL LISTUP | Voter registrants wait for their turn to have their biometrics taken at the office of the Commission on Elections in Quezon City in this file photo. (Photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 500,000 new voters have so far registered for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled on Dec. 5.

Since voter registration resumed on July 4 and as of July 8, at least 487,628 have applied to be counted as voters, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

These consist of 302,040 new voters who are 15 to 17 years old; 157,925 voters who are 18 to 30 years old; and 27,663 voters age 31 and older.

Voter registration will run until July 23 as part of the preparations for the Dec. 5 barangay and SK elections.

Aside from the applications from new voters, the Comelec also received around 174,000 applications for transfer or reactivation of registration.

Previously unregistered voters have to personally file their application in the nearest Comelec office, which will be open Mondays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

23 million youth voters expected

The Comelec has projected 66,053,357 total registered voters for the barangay and SK polls, higher than the 65,745,529 locally registered voters in the May 9 general elections.

The Comelec projected total registered youth voters to reach 23,059,227, higher than the 20.6 registered youth voters in the last barangay and SK elections in May 2018.

Regular voters should be at least 18 years old. On the other hand, SK voters should be at least 15 years old but not more than 30 years old on the day of the elections.

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