Voters’ list to undergo cleansing — Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — After the midterm polls, the voters’ list will undergo cleansing again, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported yesterday.

Teopisto Elnas, Comelec’s Election and Barangay Affairs Department director, said they will do the cleansing before the resumption of voters’ registration in August.

“Before the voter registration activity, the Comelec will conduct an updating of records in order to cleanse the list of voters,” Elnas disclosed in an interview over Radyo Comelec.

“We want to know how many are for deactivation, as well as those who died, based on the records of the Local Civil Registrars,” Elnas explained.

The list used in the last May 2019 midterm elections had a total of 61,843,771 registered voters.

A registered voter can be deactivated when he or she has been sentenced by final judgment to suffer imprisonment for not less than one year; adjudged by final judgment of committing crime involving disloyalty to the government, such as rebellion, sedition, violation of the anti-subversion and firearms laws, or any crime against national security; being declared by competent authority to be insane or incompetent.

Those who failed to vote in two successive preceding regular elections also face deactivation, as well as voters whose registration has been ordered excluded by the Court and if they had lost Filipino citizenship. Registration records of those who have died as certified by the Local Civil Registrar shall be cancelled by the Comelec, too.

Resumption of voter registration starts from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Mondays to Saturday, including holidays, at local Comelec offices.