Western Visayas logs 21K voter applicants

BACOLOD CITY: The voter registration in Western Visayas posted a “good turnout” in its first two weeks with about 21,000 voter applicants registering in the region, lawyer Dennis Ausan, regional director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said.

“We hope the turnout will increase as there is still time. It’s still a good number,” Ausan said.

Ausan, however, said they need to campaign more for people to register.

He said the agency has no specific estimate of how many new voters will register.

Nationwide, the poll body saw an additional three million additional voters for the 2025 midterm election, he added.

Ausan led the one-day Voter Education and Registration Fair at SM City Bacolod event center on Friday.

The putting up of satellite registration centers is determined by the local election officers in certain areas, he pointed out.

He said “the satellite registration is done in malls if it’s available or in schools because we want to capture the youth sector.”

“We also conduct it in remote barangays so that voters will not have to travel to the poblacion. It will be Comelec who will go to them,” he also said.

On conducting house-to-house voter registration, Ausan said “it is logistically a problem as we have to bring the servers during the process. So we hold it in barangay halls where people can go.”

He called on voters “not to wait for the last month, last week or last few days to go to the different registration centers. We have all the time.”

The commission is open to accommodate anyone even on Saturdays and holidays, especially those working and students, Ausan said.