Comelec: Low turnout on last day of extended voters’ listup

The extension of voter registration ended with a poor turnout, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday after airing earlier worries about being swamped by hordes of last-minute registrants. “Mahina, mabagal ang dating nila," Comelec Chairman Jose Melo told reporters in an interview on Tuesday, the last day of the extended voter listup. Voter registration originally ran from December 2008 to October 31, 2009. But following the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision allowing for extension, the Comelec opened up its centers for registration on December 21, 22, 23, 28, and 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Election personnel in field offices in Metro Manila also observed low turnouts of registrants during the last day of the listup. “Mas kakaunti ngayon ang pumunta para magparegister. Dati, thousands ang pumupunta para magparehistro, ngayon over 300 lang (Fewer people came this time to register. The last time, thousands were lining up to register, but now we only have over 300)," said Claire Salinal, election assistant in Quezon City’s thickly-populated third district. Salinal attributed the low turnout to the Comelec resolution ordering field offices to accommodate only first time voters during the extended registration. “Mas maayos at magaan ang trabaho ngayon dahil first time voters lang ang ine-entertain (The registration is more organized and easier for us because we only have to entertain new voters)," she said. In some areas, however, registrants formed long queues to beat the deadline, which the poll body attributed to “mañana habit." [See: Mañana habit leads to long queues of voter registrants] Registration cut short? On the other hand, Kabataan party-list, the group that had asked the SC to extend the registration, is asserting that the Comelec should not have “cut short" the listup period to until December 29 only. It said that the SC had ordered the poll body to extend it until January 9. Melo, for his part, said that the youth party-list group does not understand that the process of registration does not only entail the voter listup, but also the administrative procedures that come with it. “They don’t understand the law, they think that if they get listed, they’re already registered. I keep on saying that listup does not equate to registration. There’s a process. The list has to be published. A hearing would then be conducted for any challenges," he said in Filipino. The poll body said it will post the list of the new applicants on January 4, giving the registrants until January 6 to file an opposition to any of the other registrations. By January 9, he said the Election Registration Board (ERB) will begin their hearings to weed out ineligible registrants. Earlier, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said they will not be printing any additional ballots, making these new registrants like "chance passengers." [See: Additional voters for 2010 to be like 'chance passengers'.] He said they would not produce extra ballots aside from the ballots that are scheduled to be printed on January 25 based on the number of voters that had registered prior to the SC ruling. There are over 49 million registered voters. as of December 10. The ratio of ballot to voter was supposed to be one is to one. [See: Over 49 million voters in 2010 polls, says Comelec] Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, however, clarified that additional voters could still vote if there would be “spare" ballots on election day, relying on the usual low voter turnout during the polls. - with Andreo Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV