OVR Target Overshot amid Last-Minute Rush
Heavy turnout in the last few days of the Overseas Voters’ Registration in October lifted the tally for the month to 4,883, enabling the Consulate to overshoot its target of 20,000 new voters.
The October number, the highest monthly figure for the list-up for next year’s national elections, brings the total number of registrants to roughly 25,881, said Vice Consul Alex Vallespin, head of the Consulate’s cultural section that managed the OVR.
The number represents registration and certification but excludes other services such as transfer, correction, and reactivation, Vallespin said. Including those peripheral services, the October OVR tally would reach 5,249, he said.
The OVR officially ended on Oct 31. But reactivating the registration of about 14,000 voters taken off the official list for failing to vote in the last two elections will continue until Dec. 9.
Sa ngayon, tapusin muna natin ang reactivation period…and after the Dec. 9 deadline, we will see kung ilan talaga yung magiging registered voters natin, Vallespin told The SUN.
But with the new registration figure, the total number of Filipinos qualified to vote in next year’s presidential election will easily top 100,000.
The Commission on Elections recently said it was expecting a 50% to 80% turnout for Hong Kong.
This year’s registration figure is 34% more than the 19,300 new voters who listed during the 2013 OVR. However, it is just slightly more than the 24,803 new voters who registered for the last presidential election in 2010, for which the registration period ended two months earlier.
The overseas vote for the upcoming presidential election will last from from April 9 to May 9 next year. Vir B. Lumicao