The number of registered voters as of latest count in Negros Oriental has already reached the one million mark, an official of the Commission on Elections here said Thursday.
Comelec Provincial Election Supervisor lawyer Eddie Aba said the total registered voters, to include regular and for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections, is pegged at 1,134,417.
Of the total number, 828,510 are regular voters while 305,907 are SK voters as of December 18, 2017, Aba added.
This is, by far, the highest number of registered voters in Negros Oriental, the Comelec lawyer said.
Records at the provincial Comelec office showed that there were 799,002 registered regular voters during the May 2016 national elections.
This time, the increase in regular voters and SK voters for the upcoming May 14, 2018 synchronized barangay and SK elections is attributed to the localized poll exercise, Aba pointed out.
He noted that Filipinos tend to be clannish and therefore, the barangay elections would usually have a higher turnout as relatives would cast their votes for family members/relatives who are running for different village positions.
“The more localized the election, the more voters will vote,” Aba said.
Aba expects a higher turnout of voters on May 14, up to as much as 85 percent or even a bit higher, and relatively higher than the national elections’ turnout.
The regular usual range of voters’ turnout here is around 82 percent or slightly higher, Aba said.
Negros Oriental has 557 barangays in six cities and 19 municipalities. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});