Extend voter registration

These are indeed extraordinary times. Just when it seemed the Philippines was emerging from a year and a half of hard quarantine (the longest and most severe in the world, it’s been said), news of the Delta variant of COVID-19 which is found to be more infectious and more deadly than the original form has prompted even more controls on the populace.

Yesterday, the National Capital Region, along with surrounding areas as well as other population centers across the archipelago, was put under the strictest quarantine protocols. Once more, seniors, children under 18 years, and others with no proof to show that they are authorized to travel or conduct business are confined to their homes or immediate surroundings. Once again, strict curbs are put on shopping or going to market (even if for essentials like food), exercising outdoors, crossing boundaries to other cities and towns, and going to Church to worship.

Indeed, spooked by the prospect of being confined to their homes if they have no proof of being vaccinated, thousands of urban dwellers rushed to different vaccination sites on Thursday, crowding and forming lengthy queues that risked becoming so-called “superspreader” events.

So, yes, we’re back to a new, more dangerous, more frightening old abnormal. But if you ask the folks at the Commission on Elections (Comelec), things are just hunky-dory. So hunky-dory that they see no need to extend the deadline for registration of new voters or voters who for some reason had been unable to vote in the last two elections. That deadline is fast approaching: By Sept. 30, all registration activities will stop and the poll body, said spokesperson James Jimenez, will proceed with preparations for next year’s polls.

“It would be very difficult to prepare for the elections if the number (of registered voters) continues to change,” said Jimenez. “We print only the exact number of ballots. So, if the number of voters is a moving target, our printing will also be a moving target. We have to put a stop to it at some point.”

But other officials and nongovernment organizations, especially youth groups, are still pushing for the extension of voter registration.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros has appealed to the Comelec to move the deadline by at least two more weeks, especially since the poll body has announced that voter registration in Metro Manila will be suspended from Aug. 6-20, the period of the lockdown. “Sayang ’yung period,” said Hontiveros. “It’s two more weeks that may prove critical for our country’s future.”

She’s right. The drive for voter registration is usually targeted at the youth, many of whom will be first-time voters or else were too busy or distracted to participate in previous exercises. So, the abrupt end of the registration process, in a season of extraordinary challenges for the populace, will disenfranchise mainly young voters-to-be. “Extraordinary circumstances” in the face of COVID-19, pointed out the senator, should be enough reason to relax the registration rules.

The Kabataan (Youth) Party List also bemoaned what it called the “extremely slow pace” of voter registration, citing “circumstances (that) have rendered us extremely crippled in terms of expediently handling voter’s registration.”

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines echoed this sentiment, saying that not adjusting the deadline “would put thousands, if not millions” of Filipinos unable to exercise the right to vote “just because they prioritized health and safety over registering within an inconvenient, constrained time.” Hontiveros and the youth groups have been joined in their call for the extension of the registration deadline by other legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

Another reason cited by Jimenez in explaining the Comelec’s reluctance to move the deadline is that the body has already met its target for new registrants: 4.8 million new voters, exceeding the original 4 million target.

But given the tremendous pandemic-related barriers that have deterred many more would-be voters from registering, the Comelec’s mindset flies in the face of the spirit of the law. After all, isn’t “one person, one vote” the very essence of a working democracy? Shouldn’t the Comelec be bending over backwards to accommodate the citizenry, ensuring that as many of them as possible are able to participate in the polls?

At some point in time, registration must indeed come to an end and preparations for May 2022 must begin. But can’t the poll body try a bit harder—perhaps for an extra two weeks given the fresh lockdown—to ensure that everyone, especially young people whose future will be determined by next year’s pivotal polls, will have a chance to make themselves heard and counted?