The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Saturday asked voters who lined up but were not able to register because of the power outage to return on Tuesday, November 3.
“Nakapagbigay tayo ng order sa affected areas lalo sa walang kuryente yung mga taong nariyan bibigyan sila ng form, lista nila. These people can come back sa Martes, ang kanilang registration bibigyan ng bisa,” Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said in a radio interview.
The poll chief issued the order because the power outages caused by typhoon “Santi” rendered useless their registration centers, which rely on electricity-powered data capture machines.
But the Comelec stressed that only voters whose forms were properly marked and signed by their election officerwill be entertained on Tuesday.
“We’ve instructed them to give out forms. Tatatakan at pipirmahan ng election officer para on Tuesday, puwede bumalik iyong mga may hawak ng forms na yun para matuloy ang kanilang rehistro,” James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman said in a television interview.
“Technically hindi ‘yan extension. On Tuesday, kapag dumating ka na wala kang form or kung may form ka man pero yung form na dala mo walang tatak at pirma ng EO, ibig sabihin hindi yun binigay today. Hindi yan i-entertain,” he added.
Voters flocked to different registration sites Saturday to beat the October 31, deadline.
Earlier, the Comelec already rejected calls to extend voters’ registration as this might affect their preparation of the voters’ list.
Saturday, Comelec made strong headway in its bid to register at least three million voters for the May, 10 2010 elections.
Melo said reports from field offices in 118 cities and 1,500 municipalities showed a heavy turnout of registrants consisting of students and young workers who took advantage of the start of the three-day non-working public holiday occasioned by All Saints’ Day Sunday Nov. 1 and All Souls’ Day Monday, Nov. 2, to beat the deadline.
He added that the three million target is attainable with the heavy turnout of registrants not only Saturday but also in the last few days.
“When all reports are in we would even exceed the 3-million target,” Melo said.
Melo, along with Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Nicodemo T. Ferrer, Joselito N. Tagle, Armando C. Velasco, and Elias Yusoth stayed in their offices the whole day Saturday to monitor registration activities.
