800,000 sign up as voters for 2018 barangay, youth polls

More than 800,000 Filipinos trooped to local election offices last month to sign up as voters for the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said a total of 843,588 citizens attended to their right to suffrage during the 22-day voters’ registration period, which ended last November 30.

This figure includes 45,927 people aged 18 and above who signed up as regular voters, and 249,925  people aged 15 to 17 who signed up as youth voters.

Poll spokesperson James Jimenez noted that the turnout was a testament to the effectiveness of the Comelec’s information campaign and its satellite registration activities.

“This speaks of the accessibility of the process as well as the effectiveness of the information campaign,” he said on Tuesday.

The Comelec initially expected 850,000 new voters from the recently-concluded voters’ registration period, or 350,000 youth voters and 800,000 regular voters.

“In any case, the outcome is close enough to confidently say that people who wanted to register were able to do so,” Jimenez said.

The figure of 843,588 Filipinos also included 57,008 applications for reactivation of voting status; 18,470 for reactivation with correction of entries; and 62,179 for correction of entries.

Meanwhile, the Comelec received 57 applications for inclusion in the book of voters and 22 names for reinstatement in the list of voters.

Of the 843,588 total applications, 53 percent or 451,681 were females while 391,907 were males.

These applications will be evaluated by election registration boards all over the country for the purpose of approving or disapproving the applications.

The ERBs will then send out notifications of disapprovals, while approvals will be posted at the offices of the election officers.

Those disapproved as voters may file petitions for inclusion, while others contesting the approval of the application of other voters may file petitions for exclusion, Jimenez added.