Comelec to clarify complaints on ‘deactivated’ voters’ status

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday allayed worries on complaints about the “deactivated” status of some voters in poll body’s online Precinct Finder and vowed that it would issue a clarification.

In a radio interview, Commissioner George Garcia admitted that the Comelec has been receiving such complaints from voters who claimed that they were active voters in previous elections.

“Kung may may ganun po, huwag po kayong mag-alala. Ika-clarify natin lahat yan. Tutal unang araw ng linggo, atin pong agad ika-clarify mula sa aming information technology department kung bakit nagkaganun,” he said.

(If they experience this, they don’t have to worry. We will clarify all of that. Since today is just the start of the week, we will immediately clarify this from our  information technology department why this happened.)

Garcia noted that it is more important that the name of voters are in the voters’ information sheet, which is the most accurate record of voters for the 2022 elections on May 9.

According to him, voters who failed to vote in the past two elections, 2018 barangay elections and 2019 midterm elections, have been deactivated.

On March 31, the Comelec said it deactivated 7,229,493 individuals who failed to vote in two successive preceding elections as shown in their voting records.

Last week, the Comelec opened its online Precinct Finder to voters, where they may find their assigned voting centers or precincts ahead of the May 9 polls.

Comelec’s online services include registration status verifier, online voter certification application, and the national and local election results website. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News