Voter registration
DESPITE the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of our workers, the nationwide registration of voters continues.
To be able to vote in next year’s national and local elections, qualified Filipinos have to register with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on or before September 30, 2021.
Records show that more than 3.4 million people have so far applied to become registered voters in time for the May 9, 2022 presidential, congressional and local elections.
Of the 3,483,298 voter registration applications received by the poll body, from Jan. 20. 2020 to May 15, 2021, 83 percent were filed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data also showed that 2,904,347 applications were filed between September 2020 and May 2021, while 578,951 applications were filed from January to March 2020.
New applications for registration totaled 1,493,417, while transfer applications hit 765,461.
As a well-meaning Filipino, we cannot overemphasize the importance of registering for next year’s political exercise which, according to many, is “democracy in action.”
In fact, elections keep a democratic country, like impoverished but natural resources-rich Philippines, functioning as they give the people the right to select their leaders.
The nation goes to the polls next year to elect the successor of President Rodrigo Duterte, a new vice president, 12 senators, congressmen and thousands of local government officials.
But there’s a need to register as a voter if we are to participate in the May 9, 2022 balloting.
