Website feature allows biometrics check

Voters around the country can now check whether they have biometrics data through a new feature recently enabled on the website of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec provincial election officer Ferdinand Gujilde advised Cebu-based registrants to make sure their biometrics data have already been taken.

“Our campaign now is to make sure four million registrants nationwide without biometrics can have theirs taken. Otherwise, their registration will be deactivated and they can’t vote in the 2016 elections,” he told reporters yesterday.

In Cebu alone, there are 140,000 registered voters that have incomplete biometrics data or none at all. The Comelec widened access to avenues where related concerns can be addressed.

Redirected

Registered voters only need to go to the Comelec’s website at www.comelec.gov.ph, and click on the Voter Registration tab.

“Users will then be led to a different page where they will be required to encode their full name and specify the area where they will be voting,” Gujilde said.

The page where users will be redirected is dedicated to identifying voters who have no biometrics data.  Gujilde said if the page displays a user’s name, they either don’t have biometrics data or they are not registered voters at all.

He said those unsure of their status need to double check with the nearest Comelec office in their area.  “It is also possible that their data have been corrupted,” Gujilde said.

Five days ago, nearly two million biometrics data files of voters sent to the central records of the Comelec were reportedly found to be corrupted.

But the Comelec said these corrupted files were only copies sent to their central office. It said the copies in the local offices are still intact.

Gujilde said that his office noticed the new feature on the Comelec website last June 10.