The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is mulling the possibility of adopting an online overseas voter registration process to encourage more Filipinos overseas to register.
“We will be talking with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on possibility of having an online voter registration so they won’t (applicants) need to go to embassies or consulates anymore since they already have the biometrics in their passports,” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, the Commissioner-in-Charge for Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV), said in a radio interview Monday.
The poll official is also recommending to the en banc to extend the voter registration hours in local Comelec offices to accommodate more applicants.
On Saturday, Guanzon said they are behind their 4 million target of new registrants.
Data from the poll body showed that there are 1,117,528 applicants for voter registration as of January 14, 2021.
Voter registration for the May, 2022 polls resumed last September 1 except in areas under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or Modified ECQ.
Qualified to register are those who will be at least 18 years of age on or before Election Day, or on May 9, 2022; a resident in the Philippines for at least 1 year; and resides in the place where he or she intends to vote for at least six months on or before Election Day.
All local Offices of the Election Officer (OEOs) are open from Mondays to Thursdays, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., to accept applicants for voter registration.
The voter registration period will run until September 30, 2021. (Leslie Ann Aquino)
