Initial count of voters without biometrics reaches 400,000

More than 400,000 people would not be able to vote in next year’s national elections after they failed to beat the Oct. 31 deadline to have their biometrics data taken in Commission on Elections (Comelec) stations in several areas nationwide, according to an initial count made of voters who missed the last day to do so.

The Comelec, to accommodate tens of thousands of voters who waited until the last minute to have their biometrics taken, had set up stations in malls.

Voters had a year and a half to have their biometrics taken.

As of Friday, 269,668 voters in Central Luzon had not complied with the biometrics requirement, while 15,514 voters had incomplete biometrics information, according to the Comelec regional office.

Nueva Ecija had the most voters with no biometrics, 92,881, followed by Pampanga (75,920), Bulacan (37,048), Tarlac (32,011), Zambales (14,239), Bataan (12,424) and Aurora (5,145).

Out of 6,047,790 registered voters in the region, 5,762,608 completed their biometrics registration.

In Iloilo City, nearly 7,000 voters failed to beat the deadline despite the setting up of a Comelec station in a mall which was opened to voters on Oct. 29-31.

After the biometrics session, Iloilo City now has 249,343 registered voters or 6,716 less than the figure recorded on Sept. 30, 256,059.

Election officials in the city said the setting up of a Comelec station in the mall helped in accommodating more voters.

The Comelec office in Iloilo City also set up satellite centers in villages to hold biometrics sessions.

In the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, at least 110,000 people failed to beat the Oct. 31 deadline, according to Comelec officials.

Danilo Cullo, Comelec Davao second district election officer, said in a local radio interview that there won’t be an extension of the deadline.

The names of people who failed to beat the Oct. 31 deadline would be removed from voters’ lists, he said.

Cullo said these people would have to register as voters anew if they would want to take part in future elections.

Palmer Palamine, Cagayan de Oro election officer, said the city now has 307,446 registered voters, excluding a total of 11,436 who failed to beat the Oct. 31 deadline.

In the 2013 elections, Cagayan de Oro had 285,645 registered voters.

Palamine said there is no one to blame but the voters themselves. “I believe we can’t be faulted anymore,” said Palamine.

In some cases, however, the Comelec brought the biometrics session to where the voters are, like in the Bulacan provincial jail where some inmates were allowed to take part in biometrics sessions in their cells.

Some inmates were allowed to leave their cells to have their biometrics data taken in Comelec offices in the inmates’ hometowns. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas; Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao; and Carmela Reyes-Estrope and Justine Dizon, Inquirer Central Luzon