There is a 7 percent drop in the number of registered voters in Negros Occidental, Provincial Election Supervisor Ma. Fatima Aspan said Thursday, March 18.
As of January 2021, Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, had 1,752,232 voters or 93 percent of the number in 2019, despite the ongoing registration of new voters, she said.
In 2019, Negros Occidental had 1,889,200 voters.
The number of voters decreased because of deaths, transfers outside Negros Occidental, and deactivation due to failure to vote twice in two consecutive elections, she said.
Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections earlier said that there has been a low turnout of new voter registrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, two local government units registered an increase in voters from 2019 to January 2021. La Castellana from 44,767 registered voters now has 46,855 or an increase of 2,091, and Sipalay City from 49,287 now has 51,302 or an increase of 2,015, she said.
Bacolod City as of January 2021 had 287,383 registered voters from 312,816 in 2019.
The following are the latest COMELEC registration statistics for Negros Occidental:
The COMELEC is conducting satellite registration activities to encourage more qualified voters to register, Aspan said.
The following is the Negros Occidental satellite registration schedule for March:
