500,000 new voters in ARMM – Bautista

COTABATO CITY (PNA) — Commission on Elections ( Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista yesterday disclosed that the number of registered voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has increased by almost 500,000.

ARMM, composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, has a total of 1,863,230 registered voters as of the 2013 midterm polls.

Bautista said the increase in the number of voters came from former voters delisted in previous election but who have registered anew, and those whose records were re-activated in compliance with the Comelec’s “No Bio, No Boto” campaign.

“We (also) noticed a lot of minors managed to register hoping to participate in this year’s elections,” Bautista said in a radio interview here.

He also cited an instance when the Comelec-ARMM had to deny the registration of a girl, who her mother claimed was already 18 years old and was already eligible to vote.

“This, despite the fact that the girl was obviously below 18 years old based on her physical appearance and facial character- istics,” Bautista said.

He said the validation and cleansing process of the voters’ list will continue and once the complete list of voters nationwide is completed, it will be made public and available in the Comelec official website.

The region had been notorious for voters, who were allowed to cast their votes despite being ineligible, and for the rampant violence that usually marred the election process in some high-risk areas.

But Bautista said he was confident that the modern election process will ultimately be able to rid itself of cheating and other forms of poll fraud.