The Philippine election season has begun and the COMELEC has ended the voters registration period.
Over a year of informing the Filipino to go out and register. COMELEC has even expanded the options where we can register – key locations, barangays and even malls where people flock to window shop.
Not all took that call seriously. That includes me – I registered on the last week. (Face palm)
Even though I have registered late I am still proud to have gone the process as I am now qualified to vote in the 2016 Philippine Elections. I am excited. I’m ready to choose my first President as a full pledge voter.
Now let’s go to the subject of this blog post – How to Successfully Register as a Voter Easily and Legally?
I may have lined up as early as 5AM, took the priority number at 6:30AM, I happy to have successfully registered easily without any questions from any COMELEC representative. So how? Let me share a life hack.
- Register on the first few months of the registration period. On the last month – be as early as you can.
- Secure a VALID ID or Birth Certificate prior the registration period.
- For 20 years old and up. Make sure that ID contains your address.
- For 18-19 years old – bring your authenticated Birth Certificate from the NSO.
- My Life Hack: Fill out and print the Voter’s Registration Form from the COMELEC iRehistro Site.
- Filling this form online and not submitting it to COMELEC will not make your registration successful.
- Follow the instructions on the form or the email that will be sent to you.
- Present your filled out form, ID (and 3 photocopied version) to the COMELEC officer.
- Go to Step 2 – the log book. Don’t worry – once you have a printed copy of the form – their will be no questions asked.
- Step 3 or the Biometrics data capturing part will be easy as it is convenient for the COMELEC rep to browse and copy your data to their system.
- Last step is the finger print part and you should be good to go.
Did I not fill out the form ahead of time, I could have finished the process at 9 or 10PM.
My mother has always been telling me to register for the upcoming elections. I’m glad I did and I have learned my lesson of not putting this as a priority – all of us are busy. Remember, think of our future. You may not know your vote will make or break the decision on the elections.