COMELEC, iVote mount satellite registration

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

With young Filipinos seen as the primary force in the 2022 national and local elections, a youth-led initiative seeks to register up to 1,000 new voters on Saturday, September 11, 2021.

iVote, a voter education advocacy by Iloilo’s own iLead Trainings, will spearhead a satellite registration activity on Sept. 11, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Lower Ground Floor of SM City Iloilo (near Toy Kingdom).

This activity aims to enlist 700 to 1,000 new voters or transferees in Iloilo City and encourage them to participate in the 2022 elections.

iLead Trainings’ President-Emeritus and iVote chairperson Blessed Bea Plondaya said that this partnership with SM City Iloilo and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is part of their pursuit to bring out and educate more voters in time for the nearing polls.

“This partnership with Iloilo City COMELEC and SM City Iloilo for the Satellite Voter Registration Center is in pursuit of empowering and enlightening our first-time and communities about their power to change the course of the fate of the Philippines. Also, iVote, together with our partner-organizations aims to further advocate the importance of the incoming 2022 National and Local Elections,” Plondaya said.

COMELEC Iloilo City Election Assistant II Jonathan Sayno sees iVote as “a great way” to campaign for more qualified voters to be registered, as well as for a wider reach in voter education.

“We are thankful for iVote for coordinating their support with us to campaign for voter’s registration and voter’s education. We are so grateful for the help they are giving us, because it is a big thing for voters to be able to vote while knowing that they have the right to pick their candidate of choice,” Sayno said.

iVote will also hold another satellite registration activity, Boto Tayo Sa Mayo 2022, on September 18 at the University of the Philippines Visayas, where the first 100 successful registrants can get a free McDonald’s meal.

Daily Guardian is one of the primary partners of iVote, together with the COMELEC and Prometheus Productions.