COTABATO CITY — THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has detected some one million registered voters who have double or multiple registrations though its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), Elections chairman George Garcia said yesterday.
The AFIS is a system that uses the biometrics data of voters to detect double or multiple registrations.
In a press briefing at the Bangsamoro Government Center here, Garcia said the records of the double or multiple registrants will be deleted.
Garcia said individuals found to have multiple registrations may be held liable for committing an election offense.
“The fact that you registered more than once, whatever your reason is, could be punishable as an election offense,” he said.
Asked if each of the one million registered voters with multiple registrations will face criminal raps, he said it will depend on the investigation on every case.
“We will check the reasons behind the multiple registrations. If they are just cases of transfer that weren’t immediately forwarded, or reactivation but applied as a new registrant… we will check if it is in good faith,” he said.
On Sunday, the Comelec reported that there are 68,618,667 registered voters nationwide for the May 12, 2025 midterm elections.
The poll body identified and deleted 892,627 double registration records for the 2022 presidential elections.
