BONTOC, Mountain Province – The provincial election office urged qualified voters from the different parts of the province to register at the earliest possible time and avoid the late rush to ensure their qualification to vote during the upcoming October 2023 synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Provincial Election Supervisor lawyer Ricardo Lampac pointed out that qualified voters who will register early will surely experience convenience when visiting the nearest election offices for them to be qualified to vote during the upcoming barangay elections and to exercise their right of suffrage as embodied in the Philippine Constitution.
He claimed that the last day of registration of qualified voters will be on January 31, 2023 based on the latest decision of the poll body and those who will be turning 18 years old on the 4th Monday of October should already make sure they are registered with the election offices in the places where they intend to vote to qualify them to cast their votes for their chosen barangay officials.
In the case of the qualified SK voters, the provincial election official called on the youth who will be turning 15 years old during the October 2023 barangay and SK elections to also register for them to vote for their future youth leaders.
According to him, voters who want to reactivate their voting status after they were deactivated, those wanting to transfer their polling precincts and those wanting to update their voting status can do so with the nearest Office of the Commission on Election (Comelec) so that they can freely access their polling precincts during the October 2023 barangay and SK elections.
Lampac pointed out that registering early will spare the qualified voters from the long lines in the different Comelec offices for them to register or update their election records.
Earlier, the Comelec fixed the registration period for the upcoming October barangay and SK elections from December 12,2022 up to January 31, 2023 to accommodate qualified voters.
Lampac asserted that people start changing their last-minute attitude in doing things so that they will be able to ensure that their chores are properly done and to prevent them from wasting their time in waiting in line in the election office covering their voting centers.
He announced that the different Comelec offices in the province will be open from 8 am to 5 pm during the remaining registration days to give qualified voters the chance register either for the barangay or SK elections and allow the Comelec to get the latest number of registered voters for both the barangay and SK levels as it will be the first time after 5 years that such election will be conducted in the country following a series of deferment by acts of Congress.
