Last day of voters' registration today

TODAY, December 31 is a make or break day for a lot of people. For those who are voting in the synchronized national and local elections this May 14, 2007 elections, today is the last day of filing for applications of registration, transfer of registration records of the local registry, and therefore registering could put one in the list of active voters. For those with the intent to run and have not officially thrown in the hat on to the arena where they are willing to cast their bets, today is the final moment. All of these activities are included in Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc resolution 7707 promulgated August 30, 2006, which finally set the calendar of activities relative to the May 14, 2007 synchronized local and national elections.

This day, all COMELEC offices would be opened to receive the applications until five, the official hours, says Bohol COMELEC information officer Juvenal Beniga in an interview Friday. He said that it is the mandate of the office to accommodate people coming in to register and transfer their registrations until the set time. Worse comes to worst and if there are still applicants within 30 meters from the registering office at the break of five, then the office is even asked to accommodate the persons in the waiting list. The persons within the immediate vicinity of the office would be entered in the logbook and be called on to be given the final opportunity to get into the final list of voters, he shared. As this day comes, thousands of voters in the countryside have also gone the same experience.

First time voters registering and change of registration records applicants need only to bring a valid identification card with a signature and photograph in it, adds the elections officer. By that, school identification cards, company or office identification bearing a photo and the signature are then acceptable. However, barely registering or filing ones applications for registration in not the omnibus way to get a voter a seat and slot in the final list of voters though, warns Beniga adding that the applications would have to go through a screening process to determine validity of application. In some parts of the country, the Comelec is now using computerized recording and a person wanting to get multiple registrations could suddenly be traced when his name pops up in some other registering office or precincts, Comelec officials said. Double registration could mean disqualification of the voter and that could mean the forfeiture of his rights guaranteed by the law, Comelec warns.

l