VOTERS' SIGN UP. An applicant waits for her biometrics to be taken during the ongoing voters' registration in Dumaguete City. Lawyer Rafael Orillana, election officer-in-charge in the Negros Oriental capital, is urging residents to register early for the May 2022 national and local elections. (Photo courtesy of Comelec-Dumaguete)
DUMAGUETE CITY – A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official here on Thursday urged qualified voters to register early for the May 2022 national and local elections.
Lawyer Rafael Orillana, the election officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Dumaguete City Comelec, in an interview, appealed to the public to not wait until the last weeks running up to the deadline on Sept. 30, 2021, to avoid unnecessary crowding which poses a high risk of transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Orillana noted that starting Feb. 15, all Comelec registration offices nationwide will be closed for disinfection as ordered by the poll body’s central office.
Voters’ registration will be held Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and registrants are asked to observe the minimum health protocols and bring their own pens.
Those qualified to vote are people turning 18 before the May 2022 polls, and those whose names have been deleted in previous elections for failure to vote in two succeeding polls.
Orillana said they will only cater to a maximum of 60 to 70 registrants per day because of their small office space and priority will be given to senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women.
He urged the people to download application forms that are available online to speed up the process upon registering at the Comelec office.
Satellite registration, which is part of the Comelec’s mandate on its continuing registration, has been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Meanwhile, the number of registered voters in this capital has dropped to 82,519 voters now listed with the agency’s Election Registration Board as of January 2021 versus the 89,193 registered voters in the 2019 elections.
The decline is mostly attributed to deceased registered voters whose names have yet to be struck out from the list or those who may have transferred registration to other areas.
Orillana said it is still difficult to determine the turnout of registered voters at the end of the registration as Filipinos tend to file their applications at the last minute. (PNA)
