Election authorities Friday uncovered that at least 43,000 voters have registered twice or even more for the May 10 general elections. The double and multiple registrations were found in the provinces of Southern Luzon and in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said Commissioner Rene Sarmiento of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Sarmiento said the errant voters deliberately intended to commit fraud by registering several times in the hope of casting their vote more than once during the May 10 election. They could not have done this by mistake, the Comelec official said. “There is no other reason. Why would they register more than once? This is very unusual,” Sarmiento said. He said many of the registrants even tried to change their appearance when they went to other registration sites. He said the anomaly was discovered by the Comelec's Information and Technology Department (ITD) through the use of biometrics and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). Sarmiento warned that what they have uncovered could just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg, adding that they expect to uncover more multiple registrants as the Comelec reviews the poll registration records in the country's other regions. “Even before the investigation of the four regions is finished, 43,000 double and multiple registrants have already been found … that means more will be discovered,” he said. The Comelec official warned that they have the technology to unmask all those who commit fraud who, he said, will face stern punishment. “I think this discovery by the ITD is sending a strong signal to the registrants … to be very careful because we now have this technology to discover this anomaly and shenanigans,” he said. Penalty for double registration is one to six years imprisonment without probation and perpetual disqualification from holding public office, Sarmiento said.He said as of Jan. 15, 2010, the number of registered voters in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon was placed at 6,736,126. Registered voters in the ARMM – comprising Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi provinces – have reached 1,882,339. The Comelec would remove or delist double and multiple registrants from the official list of voters, Sarmiento said. The poll body will then investigate each of the cases and file appropriate charges, he said, adding that they could designate the Department of Justice to prosecute the cases. He said the multiple registrants may still vote but only in the precinct where he or she first registered. “They can vote but without prejudice to the filing of appropriate charges…against them,” he said. “If there is double registration, the first registration will be valid, not the subsequent,” he said. The Comelec earlier reported that the number of registered voters for the May 10 elections had already surpassed 50 million. In the elections held in 2007, only 45,029,443 registered voters took part, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.
