Days before the resumption of voter registration, the COMELEC has quietly relaunched iRehistro – the website where you can fill out your registration form, print out the completed form, and just bring it over to the COMELEC office.
No, it’s not online registration
Obviously, iRehistro falls short of being an online voter registration solution. However, it will contribute much to our COVID-safe protocols at the various registration centers of the COMELEC.
WIthout iRehistro, a person would have to wait until he or she gets into the office, in order to be given a form. This after having waited in queue for the person ahead of him to finish and exit the premises. Once the registrant gets the form, he needs to accomplish it, while inside the office. This means that the next person in line has to wait for him to finish, extending the waiting time of everyone in queue after him.
There is no argument for efficiency either. Because COMELEC offices aren’t the most spacious places, you can only have a very limited number of people in them at any one time. With social distancing rules, some will even be able to accommodate only one applicant at a time – literally. So let’s not even argue about why we can’t have people off to one side filling up forms while others do whatever. It’s not likely to happen, and even if it did, it would endanger people and that is non-negotiable.
But with iRehistro, the minute a person steps into the COMELEC office, he can be quickly processed and directed to the biometrics capturing set-up. All told, that procedure would not take longer than an average of 10-15 minutes. Imagine what a relief that would be to the people waiting their turn.
Don’t sign
The thing about iRehistro tho, is that while it prints out a completely accomplished application form, the applicant isn’t supposed to sign the document until he’s in the COMELEC office, before the Election Officer. This is because of a provision in Republic Act 8189, and it’s one of the two major bummers keeping us from going fully online with voter registration.
With the exception of that one crazily counter-intuitive
caveat, going through the iRehistro process is actually pretty smooth. The form is well-designed and generous with tooltips and onscreen reminders, so it should be easy enough for anyone to use. Click the button to go their and see for yourself.
So, have at it!
