Electoral body expects 48 million voters for 2010 polls

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) estimates that after the registration of voters end on October 31 midnight, some forty-eight (48) million Filipinos shall have been entered in the registry of voters.

Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, quoting advocacy groups, said the number of new youth voters have already breached the one million mark, in large part due to the massive campaign launched by media organizations, the religious sector, and non-government organizations. The Philippines, the world's 12th most inhabited country, has a population of around 90 million. Under the new electronic system adopted by the Comelec, registration of voters are made more efficient by using the data capturing machines (DCM) which records the fingerprints of voters, pertinent information, and photographs. The use of biometrics, along with the purging of lists of voters who failed to vote in the past two elections, are dead, or were double-listed, has resulted in the removal of nearly three million names from the Comelec database. Still, the electoral body expects concerns like multiple registration and failure to register using the new system, which, although already addressed recently, are some of the issues that will surface just as the campaign period starts for the May 10, 2010 elections. Only last Wednesday, Comelec spokesman issued a statement clarifying that voters whose biometrics were not captured when they registered can still cast their vote, adding that the more than half of the number of registered voters so far tallied have yet to submit their biometrics using the DCM equipment. On the issue of multiple or double registration, the electoral body has recently decided to adopt Comelec Resolution No. 7893, which was promulgated on May 8, 2007, as basis in addressing the problem. The ruling stipulates that only the latest registration filed by a voter shall be considered, and the place where this was filed should also be the location where he or she is allowed to cast vote. In case the voter has double registrations in two different places, the Board of Election Inspectors, using the official list of voters issued by the poll body’s Information Technology Department, will be properly informed which place the latest registration of the voter occurred.