Register now.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued this reminder to would-be voters as the ongoing voters’ registration is set to end this Thursday, November 30.
Poll spokesperson James Jimenez urged the public to avoid flocking to local election offices on the last day in order to avoid the long queues of voters trying to beat the deadline.
“We again remind the public to avoid the last-day syndrome, and the long lines that will be inevitable on the last full day of registration,” he said in a statement.
He added that there are no discussions of extending the voters’ registration for the 2018 barangay and Sangguiniang Kabataan (SK) elections, which began last November 6.
Data showed that the Comelec has received a total of 496,816 applications for registration from November 6 to 25.
According to the election and barangay affairs department, the poll body received 126,444 applications from November 6 to 11; 152,380 applications from November 13 to 18; and 217,992 applications from November 20 to 25.
Jimenez noted that the numbers of applicants tended to increase as the deadline approaches.
“From the upward trend of the weekly turnout, people tend to register only during the last few days. The total is expected to increase substantially as November 30 draws nearer,” he said.
Metro Manila had the most number of applicants, with 81,047 applications both from regular voters and youth voters signing up for the SK elections.
The Comelec noted that there were 269,030 female registrants, as compared to 227,786 male registrants.
This is the third voters’ registration for the barangay and SK elections that the Comelec has conducted since 2017.
The poll body conducted its first voters’ registration on July 15, 2016 to July 30, 2016, which was for the barangay and SK polls initially scheduled for October 2016.
Following the postponement of the 2016 barangay and SK elections to October 2017, the Comelec conducted another round of voters’ registration from November 7, 2016 to April 29, 2017.
The current third round of voters’ registration is in preparation for the barangay and SK elections that were moved anew to May 14, 2018.
Jimenez noted that the Comelec, in order to reach more would-be voters, conducted off-site voters’ registration activities in the past month.
“This has, to a great extent, been welcomed by the public. Our satellite registration events continue to process substantial numbers of applications on a daily basis,” he added.
The voters’ registration will run until this Thursday, November 30, with applications processed in local election offices and satellite registration activities from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., including holidays. /kga