VOTER EDUCATION. Chairman George Erwin Garcia of the Commission on Elections addresses students at the Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental on Wednesday (May 8, 2024). He urged them to avail of onsite regular voter registration and the poll body's Register Anywhere Program. (PNA photo by Mary Judaline Flores Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia on Wednesday expressed confidence that the poll body will soon reach its 3 million registered voters for the May 2025 mid-term elections.
Garcia said about 2.9 million voters are now registered with the Comelec, including those living abroad.
“We’re just over two months underway since the voter’s registration started and I believe that we can reach that target by the end of the registration period on Sept. 30,” he said in an interview.
Currently, the poll body is conducting simultaneous voter education and registration drives across the country to reach as many people as possible.
Garcia spoke to hundreds of students at the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) here during the Comelec’s 2024 Voter Education and Registration Fair on Wednesday.
He urged them to take advantage of the Comelec’s “Register Anywhere Program” (RAP), which allows an individual to register as a voter regardless of his or her current residence.
A designated RAP area was set up at the NORSU gymnasium to cater to those who live outside this capital city or Negros Oriental while regular registration desks were also set up for other voters.
Only capital cities provide RAP services.
Garcia also announced some of the Comelec’s programs to be undertaken during the May 12 mid-term elections.
These include a special time allotted exclusively for senior citizens and persons with special needs.
They will have an option to come to the polling precincts between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and vote early, so they would skip large crowds of regular voters.
For overseas voters, Garcia said the Comelec would pilot test voting via the Internet and if this becomes successful and credible, this may be replicated in the country in future elections.
This is seen to address the low turnout of Filipino voters based abroad, he added.
Joining Garcia on his visit here were Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr., other en banc officials, and Central Visayas Regional Election Director Lionel Marco Castillano. (PNA)
