Philippines’ Election Commission Seeks New Voters in Latest Registration Drive

“Comelec has proven to be a pioneering elections body on the global stage with its collection of voters’ biometric data, used for identity verification during polling.”

The Philippines’ 2019 general election concluded earlier this year, but the country’s Commission on Elections (or ‘Comelec’) is pushing ahead with a big new effort to get voters registered.

The elections agency has announced that it’s going to hold voter registration drives in shopping malls and schools during the period of August 1st to September 30th. Operating hours will be from 8:00am to 5:00pm.

Comelec has proven to be a pioneering elections body on the global stage with its collection of voters’ biometric data, used for identity verification during polling. It’s a means of fighting potential voter fraud and streamlining the polling process, and while the approach faced a serious legal challenge over privacy concerns in 2015, the country’s Supreme Court ultimately sided with Comelec in its determination that biometric enrollment is a legitimate component of the voter registration process.

As the Philippine News Agency reports, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez has previously indicated that the agency is looking to register about two million new voters with this latest enrollment push. In announcing the new voter registration satellite venues on Twitter, Comelec indicated that it’s aiming to especially encourage the registration of new voters.

Source: Philippine News Agency

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July 5, 2019 – by Alex Perala