COTABATO CITY: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday that it has identified one million registered voters with double or multiple registrations. This discovery was made possible through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), a technology that uses biometric data to detect duplicate voter registrations.

According to Philippines News Agency, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia explained that these individuals will no longer be eligible to vote in the upcoming May 2025 midterm polls and the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. “We will be deleting some one million voter registration records found by our AFIS as double or multiple registrants,” Garcia stated during a press briefing at the Bangsamoro Government Center.

In addition to ineligibility, those found with multiple registrations may face legal consequences. Garcia noted that registering more than once could be punishable as an election offense. He emphasized the importance of investigating the reasons behind these
multiple registrations, whether they are due to transfers not properly forwarded, reactivations mistakenly processed as new registrations, or other reasons, to determine if they were made in good faith.

The Comelec also reported that as of the end of the registration period on September 30, there are 68,618,667 registered voters nationwide.