Some 180 inmates availed themselves of the off-site registration last Saturday at the Mandaue City jail conducted by the local Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Aside from the new registrants, 10 other inmates transferred their registration in Mandaue City and 25 others reactivated their election registration, said Jacklyn Reuyan, asst. election officer of Mandaue City.
Reuyan said those who registered hadn’t been convicted yet.
According to the Comelec, an off-site or satellite registration involves bringing the election registration procedure such as registration of votes, validation of names, validation and correction of entries, to the sites of
the voters.
This makes it easier for voters to register instead of the usual process where election registrants go to the Comelec registration
centers.
Gil Inopia, Mandaue City jail warden, said that the Comelec activity removed the hassle and the risk on the part of the jail escorts, who would be tasked to bring the registered inmates to the election precincts to allow them to vote.
Inopia said with the inmates registered, he would only bring the ballot to jail to allow these inmates to vote.
He said the city jail had 889 inmates and most of them were voters of the city.
Salvador Alqueza, Comelec staff member, said the Comelec registration at the city jail would be the last to be conducted this month and would resume
on August.
Alqueza said July would be a busy month for the Comelec, which would focus the whole month for the registration of voters at the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). /Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza