Philippines wants to add iris biometrics to tackle double voter registration

As part of efforts to reduce the rate of double registrations during voter enrollment, the Commission on Elections of the Philippines (Comelec) has expressed the wish to add iris and more fingerprints to the biometric system currently in place.

Comelec Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in a recent public briefing that in addition to the digital signature, facial photo and four fingerprints currently collected during voter registration, iris biometrics scanning and the capture of all ten fingerprints should be included, reports Malaya Business Insight.

Laudiangco said Comelec is pushing for legislation that would make this possible given the high number of double registrations recorded during voter enrollment.

The remarks from the Comelec spokesman come as the election agency held a special election registration board hearing to expunge double or multiple entries from the voter’s roll ahead of city and municipal council (Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan) elections in October, according to a Comelec announcement.

Comelec said it detected nearly 500,000 double or multiple registrations in the voter registration database following the end of voter enrollment in January.

After verification of the entries on the national list of registered voters, the Commission directed the removal of multiple registrants at local level, the deletion of original voter registration records of transferees, the deletion of records of dead persons as confirmed by local civil registrars, and the inclusion or exclusion of voter’s registration records following various court orders.

Once the process is completed, the voter’s roll will be made available to an authorized institution for inspection before a final list is drawn up, from July 27, for verification, certification and sealing.

The computerized voter’s list will be ready for posting at the bulletin offices of election officers by August, the Comelec announcement notes.

The election agency has also announced that it will conduct mall simulation voting in some select areas of the country on July 15.

Meanwhile, Comelec says it will probe and possibly prosecute about 7,000 cases of what it says are deliberate double and multiple registrations, per Business World.

Article Topics

ABIS - Automated Biometric Identification System  |  biometrics  |  Comelec  |  deduplication  |  elections  |  iris biometrics  |  Philippines  |  voter registry