Over 24,000 turn out for BSKE early voting pilot run in Muntinlupa, Naga City

More than 24,000 people in two cities turned out to participate in the Commission on Elections' pilot run of early voting hours for senior citizens, people with disabilities, and heavily pregnant women, held during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Monday.

The pilot run allowed voters belonging to three sectors—senior citizens, PWDs, and heavily pregnant women, as well as those assisting them—to vote from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., before polls started for everyone else at 7 a.m. The test run was held in Muntinlupa City and in Naga City, Camarines Sur.

The figures below were released by Comelec Chair George Garcia on Monday evening:

Muntinlupa City

• Persons with Disabilities
  • Male: 516 out of 1,061 registered
  • Female: 657 out of 1,118 registered
  • Total: 1,177 out of 2,179 registered 
• Senior Citizens
  • Male: 5,892 out of 21,580 registered
  • Female: 7,903 out of 29,971 registered
  • Total: 13,768 out of 51,551 registered
• Assistor-Voters
  • Male: 77
  • Female: 141
  • Total: 218
• Heavily Pregnant Voters
  • Female: 75 out of 75 registered
  • Total: 75

Naga City

• Persons with Disabilities
  • Male: 282 out of 470 registered
  • Female: 312 out of 459 registered
  • Total: 594 out of 929 registered
• Senior Citizens
  • Male: 3,190 out of 9,247 registered
  • Female: 4,542 out of 13,072 registered
  • Total: 7,732 out of 22,319 registered
• Assistor-Voters
  • Male: 175
  • Female: 323
  • Total: 498
• Heavily Pregnant Voters
  • Female: 108 out of 108 registered
  • Total: 108

Voters belonging to those three sectors could also choose to vote during regular hours, which ran from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Narito po ang voters' turnout para sa mga nakatatanda, may kapansanan, at heavily pregnant woman sa pagsasagawa ng pilot testing ng Early Voting Hours sa Muntinlupa City at Naga City, Camarines Sur para sa 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. @COMELEC #BSKE2023 pic.twitter.com/ZJGgiTNdGM

— Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia (@ChairGEGarcia) October 30, 2023

In both cities, a larger percentage of registered voters who were persons with disabilities turned out for early voting than registered voters who were senior citizens. In Muntinlupa, 54% of PWD registered voters chose early voting compared to 26.7% of senior citizen registered voters. In Naga City, 63.9% of PWD registered voters and 34.6% of senior citizen registered voters chose early voting.

Comelec earlier said that the early voting option would be tested during BSKE 2023 in view of the passage of a law for it.

Garcia said that the early voting for select individuals will be expanded nationwide for the national and local elections and the BSKE in 2025 if the pilot run was successful. — BM, GMA Integrated News