Comelec processes over 3.3M voter applications

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said it has received 3,368,999 applicants for voter registration since the start of voter sign-up activities last February.

Based on its latest data, the Comelec said the figure is composed of 1,734,890 females and 1,634,109 males.

The region with the most number of applicants is Calabarzon with 592,683 (306,882 females and 285,801 males) followed by the National Capital Region with 481,819 (260,900 females and 220,919 males).

The lowest number of applicants was recorded in the Cordillera Administrative Region with 43,548 (22,994 females and 20,554 males).

Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia, however, said the figure of new voters was outnumbered by the nearly 5 million deactivated voters.

"With 4.9 million (voters) deactivated, the number of new registrants is rendered unsubstantial," he said in a phone interview.

On Monday, the Comelec noted that 4,903,415 registered voters whose records were deactivated after the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Most of the deactivated voters numbering 4,898,744 are those who failed to vote in two successive preceding regular polls.

Garcia urged the over 4.8 million deactivated voters to reactivate their records.

Aside from voter registration, Comelec offices are accepting applications for transfer of registration, change/corrections of entries in the registration records, reactivation of registration records, inclusion of registration records and reinstatement of name in the list of voters, and transfer of registration records from foreign service post to local.

Voter registration activities will run until Sept. 30. (PNA)