Comelec gets 1.52M new voter applications

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received some 1.52 million applications for registration as of Friday, more than half of its target three million new voters for the 2025 mid-term polls.

In a Viber message to reporters, Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia said that as of March 22, there were 1,527,939 registration applications processed nationwide in Comelec offices, satellite registration centers and “Register Anywhere Program” (RAP) stations.

The top five regions with the most applicants were Calabarzon, with 279,440; Metro Manila, 228,929; Central Luzon, 168,702; Central Visayas, 112,176; and Davao, 105,929.

The Comelec is targeting three million new voters for next year’s midterm elections. The registration period started on Feb. 12 and will end on Sept. 30, 2024.

The poll body has opened RAP stations in malls, government offices and big companies to register potential voters unable to go back to their native towns in the provinces to get registered, as well as those wishing to transfer their voting precincts or reactivate their registrations.

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Go out and register

In his visit to the satellite registration and RAP stations at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila on Thursday, Garcia called on the youth, especially those already eligible to vote, to apply for registration so that they will have a voice in the selection of the country’s next and future leaders.

“It’s not enough that you just register. On your shoulders rest the responsibility of voting rightly. We vote [for a candidate] because we know that he will give a bright future to everyone,” he said. INQ