Comelec urges barangays to hold satellite voter registration in villages

Comelec office. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) urged barangay officials, on Wednesday, to initiate the conduct of satellite voter registration in their communities.

“Dear Brgy officials: Imagine how your community would love it if you could bring voter registration closer to them,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez in his Twitter account (@jabjimenez).

The poll body has set the resumption of voter registration on May 6 to October 31, 2015 at all offices of the election officer of every city and municipality.

Based on Comelec Resolution No. 9853, satellite registrations can be conducted in every barangay as long as the conditions set by the commission are met.

“Satellite registration shall be conducted either in barangay halls, public/private schools, commercial establishments and other public places within the city/municipality to ensure wider voter participation. There shall be at least one satellite registration for every barangay,” Section 5 of the resolution reads.

The Comelec cited a number of requirements for the holding of a satellite registration in a barangay:

*  The number of prospective registrants should not be less than 200;

*  The place or establishment where the satellite registration will be conducted is not owned, leased or occupied as residence by any incumbent city/municipal/barangay officials or their relatives;

*  The conduct of satellite registration should not be of extra or additional cost to the poll body, and it should be arranged with the local government unit through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), particularly regarding the transportation of the Voters Registration Machines (VRMs), forms and other supplies and Comelec personnel.

*  Written notices of the schedule and venue of satellite registration must be posted in the bulletin boards of the Office of Election Officer (OEO) and the city/municipal/barangay hall.

The Comelec added that barangay officials should ensure that the database was backed-up before conducting the satellite registration.

Should barangay officials decide not to conduct satellite registration, Jimenez said the least that they could do would be to help in the information dissemination about the coming voter registration.

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