The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Saturday reminded Filipinos eligible to vote in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls in December to go to their local poll body offices and sign up beginning next week.

In an advisory posted on its Facebook page, the COMELEC said the Office of the Election Officer (OEO) in the respective districts, cities, and municipalities will be ready to accept applications for registration starting Monday (July 4) up to July 23.

They will be open during office hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays to Saturdays.

The poll body reminded that application for registration as voters has to be filed personally.

On the other hand, Filipinos filing for reactivation of their registration records are advised to send their applications to the official e-mail address of the OEO in their locality.

The COMELEC will also accept applications for transfer, change/corrections of entries in the registration records, the inclusion of registration records and reinstatement of name on the list of voters, and transfer of registration records from a foreign post to a local one.

“It does not include applications for reactivation with a transfer outside of the locality where the voter intends to transfer to,” it added.

On the other hand, an election watchdog group called on the public to register for the elections soonest as the registration period will only run for less than a month.

“Make sure that you are registered in time for the December 5 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE),” the National Movement for Free Elections said in a social media post.

“Find out where your local COMELEC is and go as early as you can,” it added.

Earlier, the poll body projected that the total number of registered voters for the barangay polls will be 66,053,357.

As for SK voters, the body expects the number to reach 23,059,227 after the end of the registration period.

During the May 9 national and local polls, there were a total of 65.7 million registered voters.

The number of youth voters registered in the May 2018 barangay and SK elections was 20.6 million.PNA