.2 M P’sinan registered voters without biometric data – Comelec

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – At least 200,000 registered voters in Pangasinan need to go to the city or municipal offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to have their biometrics taken in order to avoid disenfranchisement in the 2016 elections, the provincial election supervisor said yesterday.

Lawyer Marino Salas told journalists that the registration would start on May 6.

He said the Comelec offices would open the registration for voters whose biometrics data have not yet taken, reactivation of those who failed to vote consecutively in the last two elections, update of voters’ record, and for new voters who would turn 18 on or before the 2016 elections.

The registration period will last until Oct. 31, 2015.

Salas said the 200,000 registered voters in Pangasinan are part of the nine million voters throughout the country, whose biometric data have yet to be taken. There are 1.7 million voters in the province.

He said with the one year and six months registration period, residents would have no more reason not to comply with the requirement.

Salas said the Comelec offices will remain open during Sundays to serve the registrants, while some Comelec personnel will go to the villages for the registration.