The Commission on Elections on Tuesday reiterated its call to the more than two million deactivated voters to reactivate their registration records for the coming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Oct. 23, 2017.
With still 70 days left to the polls, the Comelec repeated its call to take to register early while there are few people lining up to register in all poll offices nationwide.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said there are still around 2 million voters whose records were deactivated.
“Under Republic Act 8189, also known as the Voters Registration Act of 1996, failure to vote in two consecutive national elections will result in the deactivation of a registered voter’s right to vote,” Jimenez said.
“If you did not vote in 2013 and in the May 2016 elections, you will not be able to vote in the Oct. 23, 2017 Barangay and SK elections, and subsequent elections, unless you reactivate. We have a longer registration period, we are also open even on Saturdays and holidays to accommodate as many registrants as possible,” Jimenez added.
The Commission said it expects three million voters to register for the barangay elections, and two million voters for the SK elections.
Around 1,632,000 voters registered during the initial round of the voter registration from July 15 to 30, 2016.
Jimenez also reminded the public to bring their valid IDs as most of the problems encountered by the Election Officers involved registrants using IDs without their picture or address.
Valid IDs include government-issued IDs, corporate IDs, current school IDs, senior citizens ID, and NBI Clearance.