ANTIQUE – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in this province urges eligible voters to register early for the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections and not wait for the last-day rush on Jan. 31.
From Dec. 12, 2022 to Jan. 10, 2023, Comelec saw a low turnout of voter-registrants in Western Visayas, with only 2,393 for Antique or an average of 109 registrants per day.
Lawyer Tomas Valera, Comelec Region 6 assistant regional director and concurrent Antique provincial election supervisor, appealed to the public to personally appear in their respective election offices with valid identification and register to vote for the barangay and SK elections on Oct. 30.
Comelec offices are open even on Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to accommodate prospective registrants, including requests such as transfer, change/correction of entries in the registration records, reactivation of registration records, reinstatement of name in the list of voters, and transfer of records from post to local.
For the barangay election, prospective registrants must be at least 18 years of age on or before the day of the election and must be a resident of the Philippines for at least one year and for at least six months where he/she proposes to vote.
For the SK election, allowed to register are individuals at least 15 but not more than 30 years old and a resident of the barangay for at least six months on or before the election.
On the last day of the registration period, Comelec Resolution No. 10868 states that, if by 3 p.m. individuals are still on cue to file their registration application, names must be consecutively listed and registrations shall continue until all those listed have been processed.
In a bid to increase voter registration, Comelec will also stage satellite registration centers.
There shall also be an express lane for the exclusive use of persons with disabilities (PWD), senior citizens, and pregnant applicants. (PIA)/PN
