List of new voters to be purged

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered its officers to weed out double or multiple registrants from the list of 1.8 million new voters who registered in July.

In a resolution, Comelec ordered its Information Technology Department to find and delete possible double or multiple entries using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

The first registration of a voter will be retained but any subsequent registration will be voided, the Comelec said in its resolution dated August 30.

The commission issued the order after 1.8 million new voters—more than twice the expected turnout—registered in July for the coming barangay and sangguniaang kabataan (SK) elections in October.

The special registration was marred by allegations that politicians herded their supporters to register.

Besides the 1.8 million new registrants, there were also 519,086 voters who transferred to another precinct, 121,367 who reactivated their registration records, and 672 who reinstated their registration records in the list of voters.