Comelec headquarters
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will resume the registration of local and overseas voters in December, but it will last only 54 days, or one month and 23 days.
After the commission’s weekly policymaking meeting on Wednesday, Comelec Spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said the voter registration period will be from Dec. 9, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2023.
“The commission for now decided to set the period of voter’s registration from Dec. 9, 2022, until Jan. 31, 2023, to pave the way for the full pilot testing and the conduct of a comprehensive assessment of the initial implementation of the ‘Register Anywhere Project’ (RAP) in the National Capital Region (NCR),” he said.
Laudiangco said the period may be extended depending on the results of the pilot test of the poll body’s new Register Anywhere system in Metro Manila.
“This Register Anywhere system will provide our registrants the convenience of registering in a mall of their choice [during the pilot test, within the NCR] where an offsite or satellite registration is being held, even if said mall is located in a city or municipality other than their city or municipality of their residence,” Laudiangco said earlier this month.
With the system, Comelec will install two sets of registration booths in satellite Comelec sites, one for applicants who are residents of the city or the municipality and the other for nonresidents.
The names of the registrants will then continue to be posted in the Office of the Election Officer having jurisdiction of the city or municipality of their residence and their barangays, in compliance with the public notice requirement.
“In the same manner, the Election Registration Board having jurisdiction of the registrant/applicant’s residence shall still have the exclusive and original power to hear all such applications under the Register Anywhere system, including hearing oppositions thereto and receive evidence for or against the registrant/applicant,” Laudiangco said.
The RAP will be piloted in five malls in Metro Manila and will be conducted every Saturday and Sunday from Dec. 10, 2022, until Jan. 29, 2023, except holidays.Comelec “ultimately intends to implement the RAP nationwide based on the lessons to be learned in the NCR pilot testing,” added Laudiangco.
After President Marcos signed Republic Act No. 11935 last Oct. 10 that postponed the Dec. 5, 2022, elections to next year, Comelec Chair George Garcia said they plan to resume voter registration in November this year until the end of May 2023.
Voter registration activities are only prohibited during the 120-day period before regular elections and the 90-day period before special elections.
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