New schedule for satellite voter registration

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Elections, in its campaign for biometric voter registration, has scheduled four new satellite voter registrations in Cebu at two malls in Mandaue City.

These will be on September 5 and 26, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Gaisano Capital in Casuntingan, Mandaue City and on September 12 and 19,  8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at Gaisano Grand Mall – Centro in Mandaue City.

As part of a previous agreement with Pacific Mall in Mandaue City, satellite registration will also continue there on September 4, 11, 18 and 25.

During his visit to Cebu last week, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the deadline for biometric voter registration is on October 31, 2015.

He said a voter with no biometric data cannot vote in the upcoming May 9, 2016 local and national elections.  This new biometric requirements has prompted the poll body to launch the #NoBioNoBoto campaign aimed at spreading awareness among the voting public.

The law requires that all voter registration records must have biometrics information, which will be captured via Comelec’s Voter Registration Machine.

The VRM makes use of a digital camera, a fingerprint scanner, and a signature pad to capture the voter’s biometrics data. 

Bautista had said that the satellite voter registration is done to reach out to more voters and make it (registration) accessible to the general public. — (FREEMAN)