Times like these, people hardly think of voting.
Only a few months have passed since the previous elections. The officials we elected into office are just beginning to warm their seats and plotting how they can make a difference—for some, recoup their investments—over the next three years. Many voters are still deciding whether they think they have made the right choice.
It is during this lull that the Commission on Elections opens a window for young people to get their names into the roster of voters.
Under Comelec Resolution 10549, any Filipino citizen not yet a registered voter, and who will be at least 15 years old on May 11, 2020, should register in any Office of the Election Officer or any satellite registration site in the locality where the registrant resides.
Registration began on August 1 and will end on Monday, September 30.
The process is not only for new voters. Other applications for registration—for instance, transfer of registration record, change/correction of entries, reactivation of registration record, inclusion of registration record and reinstatement of name in the list of voters—will also be received during this period.
The past campaign periods have been noisy, even unwieldy, as social media and fake news complicated the circus-like atmosphere. Many people made their sentiments and preference felt through their social media accounts. Unfortunately, a good number of these noisy elements were just all about that—noise. They did not exercise their fundamental democratic right and obligation to vote, either because they did not make time for the exercise, or because they were not even on the list, in the first place.
We also make much of involving the youth in our nation's affairs. The best way to do this is to encourage them to be counted, this early.
Signing up is more than just seeing one's name on a list. It is, instead, casting one's lot with that of the country and committing to let one's vote be counted, even if it includes the possibility that one's choice would not even win.
In the end, the names of the winners and losers are nowhere nearly as important as the names of those who have a stake in governance. Democracy is less about whom you vote for, and more about whether you even voted, at all.