Comelec registers over 1M new voters for 2023 barangay, SK polls

Exactly two weeks before the voter registration ends, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it has registered more than 1 million new voters for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in October.

"Based on the last update on registration as of January 13, 2023 the running total of registration applications is already at 1,024,521," Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said in a Viber message to reporters Tuesday.

He said the poll body is expecting that the number will significantly increase after the inclusion of the registrations which they conducted last week as well as the ongoing applications.

The figure excludes the registrations made through the Register Anywhere Project of Comelec which already tallied 3,992 registrants as of January 15, Laudiangco added.

Last week, Comelec chairman Goerge Garcia said the poll body has yet to achieve half of its expected 1.5 to 2 million new registrants for this year's village and youth council polls.

As of Monday last week, Garcia said there are around 400,000 voters who registered with Comelec.

The voter registration for the BSKE started on December 12, 2022 and will end on January 31, 2023.

Registrants may go to the office of the election officer or satellite registration sites in their areas from Monday to Saturday, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Register Anywhere Project meanwhile runs from December 17, 2022 to January 25, 2023.

The BSKE was supposed to be held in December 2022 but was moved to October 2023.—LDF,GMA Integrated News