Kaparehistro ka na?

By James Jimenez

Daily Guardian recently reported that satellite voter registration activities have been scheduled throughout the month of May. More specifically, these registration activities taking place outside of the Iloilo City COMELEC Election Office are slated to take place at Robinsons Jaro, from May 8 to 10; at the Barangay Dungon A Covered Gym on May 11; at the Marymart Center from May 14 to 15; at the Bolilao Barangay Hall/Covered Gym on May 18; and at the Santo Niño Norte Barangay Hall and Day Care Center on May 25.

The news report went on to quote Iloilo City Election Officer Jonathan Sayno as saying that the COMELEC was aiming to grow the list of voters – currently standing at 333,470 strong – by 10,000 and 12,000 new voters, in time for the 2025 National and Local Elections.

Why this matters

I don’t want to bore anyone with yet another enumeration of all the reasons why eligible citizens need to register to vote – and why registered voters need to update their records to make sure that they can still vote in 2025 – so let me just zoom in on what I believe is the most important reason why the COMELEC initiative of bringing registration activities closer and more accessible to the people matters.

By putting up these registration centers in places where people naturally gather – malls, barangay halls, and even churchyards in some cases – COMELEC is actually breaking down barriers to people’s participation in democracy. People who would otherwise not be able to find the time or opportunity to sign up are now being given the chance to do so, without them having to go too far out of their way. COMELEC has even gone so far as to allow non-residents to register to vote wherever they are, without needing to travel back to their hometowns.

All this goes to building up a more inclusive and representative electorate. With competing – even conflicting – ideas coexisting in the same democratic space, we avoid the hazards of being trapped in an echo chamber, and instead foster the emergence of a robust and resilient democratic system.

Not just accessibility

Sadly, a lot of people fail to appreciate the value of what the COMELEC is doing, or simply take it for granted. In fact, within the COMELEC and its ecosystem of civil society organizations, it is almost an article of faith that the number of eligible citizens will always be larger than the number of actual registrants in any given registration cycle. Conventional wisdom has it that a percentage of people who are qualified to register are simply not going to, for one reason or another.

 

This is the reason COMELEC expends so much time and effort conducting voter education seminars all over the country, on top of setting up satellite registration and register-anywhere centers. It is not enough that the registration process is made more accessible; people need to be convinced that it is in their best interests to sign up to vote.

What people need to realize

Being a registered voter gives a person the ability to do things within the framework of a democratic society that would not otherwise be possible for a non-voter. A non-voter, for example, would be powerless to influence policy. A non-voter can yell and scream at the television and have zero impact on the issues that have triggered him. A voter, on the other hand, would have the power to do something about it.

By electing representatives at various levels of government – from the barangay Chairmen who is charged with the governance of your community, to the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, all the way up to the President, voters can essentially ‘customize’ how the government does its job by voting into office people who would enact the laws and craft the policies that she agrees with, that align with her own values.

The reverse is also true. Registered voters also have the power to vote people out of office, by voting for their opponents or – in extreme cases – directly booting the elected official out through a recall election.

Beyond voting

Beyond just voting, registered voters also have the power to advocate for change by directly engaging elected officials. In a perfect world, elected officials should be expected to give equal levels of attention and importance to the opinions and pleas of both voters and non-voters. But we don’t live in a perfect world.

In the world we have, the reality of politics is that non-voters are much easier for politicians to ignore. While the power to dissent is integral to all citizens regardless of voting status, the fact is that dissent from someone who isn’t able to deliver – or take away – votes for a candidate is not going to be as effective as disagreement from someone who can. As the old saw goes, when you’re registered, “pwede ka na ka-reklamo.”

Which brings me finally to the most important question: kaparehistro ka na?