Comelec to resume BSKE 2026 voter registration on Oct. 20

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will resume the registration of voters for the 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) on Monday. 

On X (formerly Twitter), the Comelec on Thursday said the nationwide voter registration for the BSKE will be open starting October 20, 2025 until May 18, 2026. Exempted in the voter registration period, however, are areas in the Bangsamoro region. 

“Itong pagpaparehistro ay applicable sa buong Pilipinas sa lahat ng klase ng registration — reactivation, transfer of registration, new registration, pagbabago sa items sa registration,” poll chief George Erwin Garcia told reporters. 

(The nationwide voter registration will be open to all kinds of registration — reactivation, transfer of registration, new registration, change of entries or items in the registration.)

“Hindi muna kami magpaparehistro mula October 21 sa Bangsamoro. Ire-resume namin ang registration ng Bangsamoro after ng parliamentary elections,” he said. 

(We will hold off the registration in Bangsamoro. We will resume registration in the Bangsamoro region after the parliamentary polls.)

Applicants may register from Monday to Sundays, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at any satellite registration site or at their respective Comelec office of the election officer (OEO).

The voter registration period will be also opened to other types of applications, such as:

• transfer of records 
• new registration
• change of name and status
• correction of entries
• reactivation of registration records
• inclusion of registration records, 
• and reinstating of name in the list of voters.

Garcia said the Comelec is targeting to register 1.4 million new voters for the 2026 BSKE during the seven-month voter registration period.

Earlier, the poll body reported that 2.7 million Filipinos registered during the ten-day nationwide voter registration for the BSKE from August 1 to August 10, surpassing its goal of 1.5 million registrants. 

On Oct. 13, the Comelec began printing of 92 million ballots to be used for the 2026 BSKE, of which 69 million will be used for the barangay elections and 23 million will be used for the Sangguniang Kabataan polls.

In August, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act 12232 that postponed the BSKE from December 1, 2025 to the first Monday of November 2026, and every four years thereafter. — JMA, GMA Integrated News