2.2M voters still deactivated, cannot vote — Comelec

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that there are still more than two million voters who have deactivated registration records due to lack of biometrics.

According to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, only 83,717 out of 2,284,743 deactivated voters have reactivated from July 15 to 23.

READ: ‘No bio, no boto’ policy upheld

“There were 1,181,139 voters who registered in the first nine days of the registration period but there are still more than 2 million whose registrations are still deactivated,” Jimenez said.

The National Capital Region posted the highest number of reactivated voters at 48,653.

With the high number of deactivated voters, Jimenez urged them to go to the poll body’s offices and reactivate their records.

Under Republic Act 8189 or the Voters Registration Act of 1996, failure to vote in two consecutive national elections will result in the deactivation of a registered voter. The last to elections were the 2013 barangay elections and the national and local elections last May 9.

Deactivated voters would not be allowed to vote in the 2016 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Oct. 31.

READ: Comelec: SK bets related to incumbent pols can’t run

The Comelec has set the non-extendible deadline for registration for the Barangay and SK elections on July 30, 2016.