New voters will have no more excuses or alibi for not registering to participate in the national and local elections by the second Monday of May, 2010.

The reason? They have more than 365 days by which to go to municipal and city offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to register so their names will be officially included in the voters' list.

And they need not wait their for their 18th birthday to do just that -- as long as their natal day falls on the date of the 2010 elections, which is, again, on the second Monday of May; so right now they can go to the Comelec offices anytime during office hours, even tomorrow.

This much was revealed by a personnel at the provincial Comelec office here, adding that those turning 18 on such a date two years hence are already qualified to register.

The year-long Comelec listing, started on December 2, 2008, would be until December 19 only for this year because of the holidays, but it will resume by January 2, 2009, until the close of the working hours by the end of next year, it was learned.

The source at the provincial Comelec told PIA that new registrants would bring only an identification card, such as a school ID, and a birth certificate in going to the nearest Comelec office for the registration process.

At the City Comelec office, an observer informed PIA that by his own estimate, more than one hundred young, new voters had showed up to register since the poll body announced last week that its doors are now open for the continuing registration.

The early listing was meant to avoid rush during registration deadline, including the listing of transferees or transferred voters, but many still had to cram up at the last minute, prompting the polling offices to extend the time.

The Comelec had hoped to reverse this trend by campaigning and encouraging new voters early on to make use of the long time allotted for voters' registration.


Source: http://gov.ph