No extension of Nov. 30 deadline for voter registration — Comelec

Voters only have until Thursday, November 30, to register for the May 14, 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has no plans of extending the voter registration period.

“No extension – or possibility of extension – is being discussed,”

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in an interview.

“We've had registration for almost a month now, and prior to that, several months of the same,” he added.

Voter registration for the upcoming village and youth polls started Nov. 6. Prior to this, the Comelec already conducted two voter registrations from July 15, 2016 to July 30, 2016 and November 7, 2016 to April 29, 2017.

And with only two days remaining before the end of the voter registration period, Jimenez urged the public to troop to their local Comelec offices and to take advantage of offsite registration near their areas of residence.

“We again remind the public to avoid the last-day syndrome, and the long lines that will be inevitable on the last full day of registration,” he said.

Ahead of the May 14, 2018 Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and Barangay Elections, local Comelec offices nationwide have been conducting non-stop offsite registration activities since the start of the registration period.

Even during Saturdays and holidays, election officials established temporary satellite offices in barangay halls, barangay plazas, and even public schools in order to bring the process of registration closer to the people.

“This has, to a great extent, been welcomed by the public. And our satellite registration events continue to process substantial numbers of applications on a daily basis,” Jimenez said.

Applications for registration, reactivation, change or correction of entries, inclusion or reinstatement of records in the list of voters, the Comelec said, shall be personally filed at the Office of the Election Officer (OEO) of the city, district, municipality where the applicant resides, during office hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays to Saturdays including holidays.

But OEOs may conduct satellite/offsite registration of voters during the period of registration.

Various Comelec offices have embarked on satellite registration in order to bring the process closer to the people.

Applications Nearly 500,000 applications for registration have been received by the Comelec since voter registration started this month.

Data from the Comelec's Election and Barangay Affairs Department (EBAD) revealed that 496,816 applications were received nationwide for the period of November 6 to 25, 2017.

A total of 126,444 applications were received for the week of November 6 to 11, 2017; 152,380 for November 13 to 18; and 217,992 for November 20 to 25.

“It can be clearly seen from the upward trend of the weekly registration turnout that people tend to register only during the last few days of registration,” Jimenez said in a statement.

He added that they expect the applications to increase "substantially" as the November 30 deadline draws nearer.

The National Capital Region (NCR) processed the most number of applicants, with 81,047 total number of applications both from the SK registrants and from regular registrants.