COMELEC Iloilo City on ‘status quo’ for last week of voter registration

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Iloilo City said on Friday that it will maintain its protocols in the last week of extended voter’s registration from Oct. 25 to 30, 2021.

Election Assistant II Jonathan Sayno told Daily Guardian that the number of registrants since the start of the extended period on Oct 11 had not gone below 500.

Sayno estimated the turnout from Oct. 11 to 21 in satellite registrations at SM City Iloilo and Festive Walk Mall at around 6,000.

“We have felt that there have been more registrants while the deadline is nearing, because based on our voter turnout, we haven’t gone under 500 [registrants],” he said in an interview.

In preparation for the penultimate week of registration at Robinsons Place Iloilo, Sayno said that they will be installing 1,000 chairs at their holding areas.

Their protocol will be the same as during their September registrations, where they will declare a cut-off as soon as their holding areas will fill up, and will no longer accept registrations after that.

“We are preparing the same as we did in September where there had been an influx of registrations as if it was the last day. People will get themselves registered because we have announced that Oct. 30 is the deadline,” Sayno said.

The Election Registration Board (ERB) has approved 29,641 registrations from Sept 6, and the total number of registered voters in Iloilo City is now more than 321,900.