Comelec: 5.5 million voters’ ID cards unclaimed

JUST a few months away before the 2016 presidential election, over 5 million voters’ identification cards remained unclaimed by registered voters as of March 2015, the Commission on Elections said.

Of the 22, 567, 882 Voters’ IDs released to the various cities and municipalities, a total of 5,506,524 were gathering dust at local poll offices based on the data from Comelec-Election Barangay Affairs Department (EBAD).

Possible reasons

In a telephone interview with INQUIRER.net, Leo Lim, public relations officer of Comelec, said that there are many possible reasons voters did not claim their IDs yet. One could be that some voters are too busy with work that they find no time to pick up their cards.

“Maybe they are not aware that their IDs are now available at the office or there is a change of residency,” he added.

Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) was listed with the highest number of unclaimed IDs (1,018,693) followed by in Manila (878,192).

Meanwhile, Comelec reported that a total of 13, 256, 588 voters’ IDs have already been released by the city and municipal Offices of Election Officers (OEOS).

Comelec said it withheld 2,730,976 IDs due to cancellation, transfer of registration, deactivation, as well as correction of entries.

Grounds for cancellation

“Transfer of residency, deactivation and death are the main reasons of Voter’s ID cancellation,” Lim explained. “However, voters can reactivate their IDs for those who have been deactivated, also with those who transferred, just go to the nearest Comelec office of your district.”

Comelec is urging voters to claim their IDs. “As long as the voter’s active, the ID will be stored at the office and they can claim it anytime,” Lim said. AC