Comelec sees 50% spike in new voters if registration brought to malls

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Election (Comelec) has put up more satellite registration booths by partnering with commercial establishments in a bid to increase the number of voters for the 2020 village and youth council elections (Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan).

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said on Thursday (Sept. 5) that the opening of satellite registration in malls may increase the number of registrants by 50 percent daily.

“It’s really inconvenient for them to go to field offices” of Comelec, Jimenez said in Filipino during the signing of memorandum of agreement with Robinsons’ Land Corporation..

“The most common question we get now is ‘where’s the registration today?’” he said.

“So now if we have registration in malls, we can get even those who are not registering,” Jimenez said.

According to Jimenez, some 750 individuals register for the village youth elections daily. With partnership with malls, Jimenez said the number could increase further before the deadline on Sept. 30.

Comelec Chair Sheriff Abas, meanwhile, said that extending the deadline was possible.

He said if the village elections are postponed again, then registration would continue past the deadline.

One of the chains of malls being considered for satellite registration was Robinsons which has 52 malls nationwide. Tess Miranda, Robinsons special project manager, said the mall operator was open to allowing Comelec to set up satellite registration facilities in its malls.

Voter registration for village and youth elections started last Aug. 1./TSB