Comelec delists 3,000 multiple-registrant voters in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Maguindanao has removed the names of about 3,000 voters, two days before the May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

Lawyer Udtog Tago, the Maguindanao election supervisor, told reporters on Saturday the delisted voters were found to be multiple registrants, or those who registered more than once in the province.

The final number of voters in Maguindanao’s 36 municipalities is 634,323 and more than 80 percent of this are expected to cast their votes on Monday, Tago said.

The town of Abdullah has the most number of multiple registrants with 2,000. The more than 1,000 were from the other towns in the province.

Tago explained that the automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) detected that the voters registered more than once.

“As of today, the names of 3,000 voters have been crossed out from the list of voters,” Tago said.

These delisted voters were expected to cast votes on Monday but will find their names missing on the voters’ list posted outside the voting precinct. /atm