Thousands beat last day of voters’ registration

New voters gather inside the Cebu City Comelec office to beat the deadline of voters’ registration.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

A TOTAL of 50,144 applicants trooped to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu office to beat yesterday’s deadline of voters’ registration.

And for the election officers, it meant that most Cebuanos still opt to register as voters on the day of the deadline, which is one of the major factors why Comelec experienced a large influx of first-time voters from the first and second districts of Cebu City.

Data from Comelec Cebu showed that out of the 50,144 registrants who are expected to cast their ballots for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and the barangay elections this May 2018, 12,581 came from Cebu City.

Election officer Ferdinand Gujilde said in a press conference at the Capitol yesterday that they noted ‘long lines of registrants’ from the towns within Metro Cebu such as Consolacion and Liloan in the north, and Minglanilla in the south.

“In the cities, a huge crowd is already expected since they have bigger population compared to the towns,” said Gujilde.

Following Cebu City is Mandaue City with 4,567 registrants, Lapu-Lapu City with 2,951, Talisay City (2,461), Naga City (2,234), Toledo City (1,951), Carcar City (1,715), Danao City (1,600), Liloan (1,295), Consolacion (1,239), Minglanilla (1,143), and Bogo City (720).

However, Gujilde said there were some who did not make it to the 5 p.m. deadline.

“We received complaints from those who failed to meet the 5 p.m. deadline. Actually, in Cebu City, their cutoff was 3 p.m. and those who fall in line beyond the 30-meter radius of their office were not accommodated,” said Gujilde.

The election officer also said that the registration of voters is expected to reopen around two to three months after the May 2018 elections.