COTABATO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said one million registered voters were found to have double or multiple registrations.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the multiple registrants were detected via the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
The AFIS is a system that uses the biometrics data of voters to detect double or multiple registrations.
They will no longer be eligible to cast their votes for the May 2025 midterm polls and Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections.
“We will be deleting some one million voter registration records found by our AFIS as double or multiple registrants,” Garcia said at a press briefing at the Bangsamoro Government Center here.
Those found to have multiple registrations may also face cases.
“The fact that you registered more than once, whatever your reason is, could be punishable as an election offense. We will check the reasons behind the multiple registrations if they are just cases of transfer that weren’t immediately forwarded, or reactivation but applied as a new registrant… we will check if it is in good faith,” he added.
The Comelec reported on Sunday that there are 68, 618, 667 registered voters nationwide as of the end of registration on September 30. (PNA)