The provincial election officer of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here in the province, urges the registrants for the next elections to observe discipline especially on social distancing when visiting poll offices to register.
Lawyer Eliseo Labaria made the appeal as he was interviewed over Open Forum, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.
He made the appeal as he observed that in the city, registrants would often fail to observe social distancing.
Due to the pandemic, protocols such as social distancing are enforced together with the wearing of face masks and face shields.
Moreover, Labaria said that Comelec staff have other tasks making it difficult for them to constantly monitor the social distancing protocol among the registrants.
The provincial election officer said that the social distancing problem is not a huge issue in the towns, but there have been observations that city poll registrants are not always observing social distancing.
To ensure social distancing, the Comelec may look for ways to detail marshals to make sure social distancing rules are followed, Labaria said in the same interview.
He suggested that people who want to register should coordinate with the local election officer to schedule an appointment to prevent a huge gathering of people who are seeking to register for the next elections.
Poll registrants need to personally appear in Comelec offices for biometric capture, as purely online registration is not possible at this time, Labaria said.
Personally, Labaria favors a suspension of the registration for the meantime while the pandemic is still prevailing. However, the decision to halt the registration temporarily is in the hands of the Comelec head office in Manila.
On Sept. 1, 2020, the Comelec started to accept voter registration in the various election offices nationwide.
In Bohol, as of Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2020, there are about 235 voters who registered for the elections in 2022, Labaria revealed this in the radio interview.