Cebu Has a Total of 2.608M Registered Voters – Poll Exec

Cebu Province, including the highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, has a total of 2.608 million voters with complete biometrics, an election official said.

But Cebu Provincial Election Officer Ferdinand Gujilde said this is not yet final because the election registration boards (ERB) will still conduct hearings Nov. 16 to come up with the final list of voters.

Gujilde said cases can still be filed for the inclusion and exclusion of some individuals from the final list of registered voters.

The last ERB hearings were held last July 20 for voters registered from April 1 to June 30, and on Oct. 19 to check those who registered from July 1 to Sept. 30.

The ERB is chaired by the local election officer, with the local Department of Education head and treasurer or head of the local civil registry as members.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) consolidated report on registered voters showed there were 2,689,717 applicants in Cebu.

Of the total, however, only 2,607,668 have complete biometrics and are allowed to vote in the May 9, 2016 elections.

This means at least 82,049 would-be voters have incomplete or no biometric information at all as of Oct. 31, the last day of the registration and validation of voters.

Of this number, at least 74,110 or 2.76 percent of the applicants have no biometric information, while a total of 7,939 have incomplete biometric data.

Gujilde said even those with incomplete fingers were classified as having complete biometric data and can still vote.

Pictures were taken to indicate the lack of some biometric elements.

Republic Act 10367 explains that biometric information includes a photograph, fingerprints, signature and other features that will help identify voters. (PNA) LAP/EB/EDS