Voter registration will resume on Aug. 1, 2019 and will continue until Sept. 30, 2019, the Commission on Elections said on Friday.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the poll body would resume biometric voters registration nationwide, as the Comelec will accept applications for new registration, transfer/transfer with reactivation, reactivation, change/correction of entry and inclusion/reinstatement of records in the list of voters.
Jimenez said around 2 million new voters were expected to register during this period.
“Sangguniang Kabataan voters need not register anew upon turning 18; their names will automatically be transferred, from the SK List of Voters to the regular List of Voters,” he said.
Comelec registration will be held from Monday to Saturday, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
He called on would-be registrants to proceed to the Comelec offices immediately as soon as the voters' registration opens and not wait for the deadline since it would only be a two -month period.
Would-be registrants should bring a photocopy of student ID, employee ID, Postal ID, senior citizens ID, Driver’s License, BIR ID, NBI Clearance, Passport, SSS/GSIS ID, IBP ID, and PRC ID.
A birth certificate is needed for change/correction of entries.
Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communications Technology has presented its proposal for an alternative automated election system for the 2022 presidential election.
“Our proposal is anchored on making the elections more credible and transparent,” DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., also the chairman of the Commission on Elections Advisory Council, said.
Part of DICT’s proposal is to integrate an Optical Character Recognition software technology in the system.
Rio added the concept was proposed due to the increasing overvotes in the past election years.
“It’s very alarming, we have 1.2 million overvotes and it’s increasing,” he said.
In 2013 elections, there were 700,000 overvotes and 800,000 overvotes in 2016.
To eliminate over voting, the DICT proposed three possible ways to vote — free hand, using bar code and scholastic exam style.
Under the free hand and scholastic exam style, the ballot has QR codes and then it will be scanned by vote tallying machine.
As instructed by President Rodrigo Duterte to come up with a new election system, Rio said the agency was ready to suggest to the Comelec new automated election concepts that could replace the current system.
“We will continue to study this so that we can know what to improve and hopefully, be adopted in time for the 2022 Elections,” Rio said.
The DICT chief said the proposal will be submitted to the Comelec for their consideration.