The Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the weekend said delisted voters can register up to the end of September to participate in the next elections.

Comelec chair George Garcia in a radio interview at DZBB said the voter registration period for the May 2025 midterm polls started on 12 February and will end on 30 September 2024.

"We have an ongoing registration, we have something called 'reactivation'... Reactivation means that even if they have been deleted, it does not mean that they are no longer voters. They are still voters, the record is there, but as a punishment by law, you are temporarily not allowed to vote," Garcia said.

Garcia added that there were 4.2 million names that have been removed from the official list of voters. Most of those delisted were from Region IV-A (Calabarzon).

He added that reasons behind for the delisting were that the voters' failure to vote in two successive elections preceding regular elections, by court order, loss of Filipino citizenship, and having non-valid documents.

"They were not able to vote in the 2022 national elections and this May and December 2023 Baranggay and SK election," he explained.

"Ngayon po, ang listahan pong yan ay available sa bawat local COMELEC. Alam naman nila kung nakaboto sila o hindi (The list is available in every local COMELEC. They know if they voted or not.)," he added.

Applicants may register from Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at any Comelec office nationwide.

Comelec earlier said that as of 5 May 2024, more than 2.5 million new voters were already registered for the 2025 national and local elections, nearing the 3-million target set by the poll body.

"So, reactivate. Our registration is ongoing until September 30. It's better to reactivate for those who will be removed from the deactivation," Garcia said.