10 vote-rich provinces have one-third of country's voters

It has only been a week since the start of the campaign season and already, both of the major senatorial tickets have ticked off Cebu on their itinerary list. There's little wonder why -- with 2.5 million voters, Cebu is the number one vote-rich province in the country. So far, the campaign trail has also led senatorial hopefuls to various pitstops in Metro Manila and other vote-rich provinces like Batangas, Laguna, and Pampanga. As senatorial candidates scoot from one sortie to the next, GMA News Research examines the provinces with the most number of voters and how those places delivered votes in past elections. Our analysis is based on the latest voter registration statistics data for the 2013 elections as well as voter turnout statistics in the 2010 elections, both sourced from the Commission on Elections. The data indicate that voters in vote-rich provinces are less inclined to actually vote than those in provinces with fewer voters. Vote-rich but low voter-turnout The top 10 vote-rich provinces in the 2013 elections are (in descending order) Cebu, Cavite, Pangasinan, Negros Occidental, Laguna, Bulacan, Davao del Sur, Batangas, Rizal, and Nueva Ecija. The said provinces have the most number of registered voters in the coming elections according to latest available data from the Commission on Elections (as of January 14, 2013). These 10 provinces alone account for 16 million voters, or nearly a third of the total number of registered voters in the country. Most of these vote-rich provinces are based in Luzon and are among the richest local government units in the country. Of the top 10 vote-rich provinces in the 2013 elections, half logged a voter turnout below the national turnout in the last presidential elections — 74.99 percent.    These are Cavite, Laguna, Davao del Sur, Rizal, and Nueva Ecija . (Refer to Table 1)

The 74.99 percent national turnout represents some 38 million voters nationwide who cast their votes during the 2010 elections. Eight in 10 registered voters cast their vote last elections.  Fifty-four provinces recorded provincial turnout higher that the national figure; 26 provinces posted lower turnout. Davao del Sur--the seventh vote-rich province in the  coming May elections--recorded the lowest voter turnout among the provinces in the 2010 polls. Only 64.37 percent of the province's registered voters actually voted that year. (Refer to Table 2) Second vote-rich province Cavite and ninth vote-rich province Rizal were not far behind Davao del Sur in terms of the 2010 voter turnout. Vote-poor but high voter turnout While voters from vote-rich provinces seemed to be less eager to troop to polling precincts, those from  provinces with fewer voters seemed to be more keen on exercising their right to vote. The 10 provinces with the least number of registered voters in the 2013 elections are (in descending order): Mountain Province, Ifugao, Biliran, Quirino, Guimaras, Apayao, Dinagat Islands, Siquijor, Camiguin, and Batanes. Most of the vote-poor provinces are small islands while some are located in the Cordilleras.  The 791,029 voters from these provinces account for only 2 percent of the total number of voters nationwide -- a mere blip in the vote radar of campaigning candidates. (Refer to Table 3) Although their combined number of voters is far less than that of any single vote-rich province, most of these vote-poor provinces have a better record when it comes to actual voting. Seven of these 10 vote-poor provinces have a percentage of voting higher than the national voter turnout in the 2010 elections: Ifugao, Biliran, Guimaras, Apayao, Siquijor, Camiguin, and Batanes. Notably, four of the 10 vote-poor provinces are also among the provinces with the highest voter turnout in the 2010 elections.   Siquijor, with its almost 65,000 voters, leads with an 86.58 percent voting percentage -- the highest voter turnout among provinces in the last election.   Batanes, with just over 10,000 voters, had a 85.28 percent voter turnout. This means 9 in 10 of its registered voters trooped to the polling places. (Refer to Table 4) In the presidential campaign in 2010, Noynoy Aquino was the only prominent presidentiable to shake the hands of the Batanes folks. Of course, former Batanes Representative Butch Abad, now Budget secretary, was then the campaign manager of Aquino. Metro Manila — with reports from Brenda Barrientos-Vallarta/RSJ, GMA News