THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will resume its voters’ registration next month following the postponement of the village and youth polls.
Comelec Resolution No. 10214, promulgated on October 24, stated that the resumption of voters’ registration will be on November 6 to 30.
The synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will be held on May 14, 2018.
Negros Occidental Elections Supervisor Jessie Suarez said the 25-day registration will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the local poll offices, which are open Monday to Sunday, including holidays.
Those who are qualified to register for the barangay elections should be 18 years old on or before Election Day and should be a resident of the barangay for at least six months before the day of elections, Suarez said.
For the SK elections, those who are qualified to register should be at least 15 but not more than 30 years old on the day of elections and should be residents in the barangay for at least six months on Election Day, he said.
Suarez said transfer of election records from one barangay to another and from one city/town to another will not be allowed during the registration of barangay and SK elections.
However, correction of data entries and reactivation of voter registration will be accepted, Suarez said.
“Applications for registration, reactivation, change/correction of entries/and inclusion/reinstatement of records in the list of voters shall be personally filed at the Offices of the Election Officer of the city/district/municipality where applicants resides, during office hours,” the Comelec resolution said, adding that “no applications for transfer of registration records shall be filed and be processed.”
During the period of registration, the local poll offices may conduct satellite/offsite registration of voters, the Comelec resolution also stated.
The poll body said that voters’ registration will be done nationwide, except in the province of Lanao del Sur.
This is because the national government has already started its effort to rehabilitate Marawi City, which is located in Lanao del Sur, after the five-month war between the government troopers and the Islamic State-linked terrorists.
On October 2, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law postponing the barangay and SK elections this year. The polls were initially set on October 23.
Vote-rich province
Meanwhile, Suarez said Negros Occidental remained to be one of the vote-rich provinces in the country.
He said the province has more than 1.7 million registered voters, making it among the top five provinces with the highest number of voters nationwide.