MANILA, Philippines - For those who will beat the deadline for application for voter registration on October 31, don't wait until the very last few office hours.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has promulgated Resolution 9149, which specifies the following guidelines to be observed on the last day of voter registration:
If at 3:00 p.m. of October 31, 2012, there are still persons waiting on line to file their application for registration within 30 meter radius for the Office of the Elections Officer, the Election Assistant (EA) shall, without delay list down their names consecutively numbered;
These names shall be called by announcing each name repeatedly 3 times in the order in which they are listed. Any applicant who is not present when his name is called shall no longer be allowed to file his application for registration/transfer/reactivation or validation;
If the applicant is present when his/her name is called he/she shall proceed with the process provided under Resolution No. 9149; and
Any application filed without biometrics shall be considered deemed not filed and shall not be submitted to the Election Registration Board (ERB) for hearing.
In the resolution, the poll body claims they are expecting a deluge of applicants to file their registrations on the very last minute. "There is a need to adopt guidelines in order to see to it that applicants during the last day will be duly accommodated," said in the resolution.
Upon inspection of various registration centers last week, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. has noticed the long lines of registrants who are trying to beat the deadline. He said that there won't be any extension for the voters registration, which has been running since May 2011.
There were more than 50,000 registered voter in the 2010 elections, in which only about 38,000 actually voted. In the 2013 elections, the poll body expects to have 49 to 50 million voters. - Rappler.com