AMID questions on the sudden surge in the number of registered voters ahead of the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday assured the public that the voters list will be cleansed of multiple registrants come Election Day.
In an interview, Elections chairman George Garcia said: “The Comelec is capable of detecting double or multiple registration of voters. So, the concern that there will be flying voters will not happen.”
This was seconded by Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco, who said applicants for voter registration undergo multiple layers of cleansing from the Comelec as well as in courts.
Laudiangco, in a televised public briefing, noted how some 900 multiple applicants have already been denied registration by the Election Registration Boards (ERBs).
He said the filing of Petition for Exclusion in courts is also available to interested parties.
He added that the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) will also be used by the Comelec to cleanse the voters list.
“It is 100 percent, we will know if they have multiple voter registration,” said Laudiangco
The Comelec issued the statement after Sen. Imee Marcos called for a Senate inquiry on the recent registration of voters for the BSKE as she questioned the surge in voter registrants for the forthcoming village and youth polls.
