SWS: Only 3 in 4 Filipinos eligible to vote

Comelec voters’ registration. FILE PHOTO by Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

With less than eight months before the 2016 national and local elections, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said that only three in four Filipinos are eligible to vote.

Results of a survey conducted from June 5 to 8 showed that only 76 percent of 1,200 respondents are registered voters and have had their biometrics digitally recorded. According to SWS, this figure represents an estimated 46.6 million Filipinos.

The said figure is essentially unchanged from the 75 percent posted last March 2015 but is 13 points higher from the 63 percent logged last December 2014.

It was also revealed in the June survey that 16 percent of the respondents—equivalent to 9.7 million—are registered voters but have not yet submitted their biometric data.

Meanwhile, eight percent of the respondents, or 4.7 million Filipinos, are not yet registered voters.

Republic Act (RA) No. 10367 requires voters to be validated through registering the registrant’s picture, fingerprint, and signature in a computer.

 
Pursuant to RA 10367, voters who fail to submit for validation will be removed from the list of eligible voters for the May 2016 elections.

Voter validation will end on October 31, 2015.

The June 2015 survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews and had sampling error margins of three percent for national percentages, and six percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. JE