Extension Oct. 11 to 30

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc yesterday voted unanimously to extend the voter registration for the 2022 national and local elections.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the extension was unanimously approved by the commissioners.

Meanwhile, Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon said on a social media post that the extension of voter registration will run from Oct. 11 to 30, 2021, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

She added there will be no registrations on Saturdays except for Oct. 30, the last day of voter registration.

Guanzon said reactivation can still be done through e-mail or personal appearance, adding that all election offices and registration sites in malls will accommodate the registrants.

Meanwhile, Jimenez said all registrations services will be offered, including transfer of voter registration and reactivation.

Overseas voter registration is also extended for two weeks, from Oct. 1 to 14.

Guanzon said the en banc came up with the decision “as requested by the Senate.”

“As I have voted a month ago, I voted again today to extend voter registration because of the necessity for it and to ensure access of all voters to the elections,” she said.

The decision to resume the voter registration after the Oct. 1 to 8 filing of the certificate of candidacy for those running in the 2022 elections was due to projections that the Comelec will be very busy in accommodating would-be candidates all over the country.

As of Sept. 11, the Comelec said there are 63,364,932 registered voters for Eleksyon 2022.

There are nine million additional voters for the upcoming polls. Of the number, 5 million are new registrants, 3.2 million are transferred voter registrations, and around 871,000 are reactivated registrations.