“I am urging the voters to come and register to be able to vote for the elections next year, or renew their registration if they have not voted in the last two elections, because their names will be automatically dropped from the voter lists,” Consul General Wilfredo DL. Maximo said.
Previously registered voters who have voted elsewhere in the last two elections may request for a transfer of their registration records to Saipan, Maximo said.
He said voters need to file their request and the consulate will process the transfer of records.
Maximo said although his office has no exact number of how many Filipinos of voting age are in the CNMI, only 240 have registered since Feb. 1.
He is expecting the number to increase in the next few months.
Maximo said in 2005, over 10,000 absentee voters registered on Saipan although the turnout was just over 30 percent on election day.
“We cannot expect the number of voters to be high this year because a large number of Filipinos have already gone home,” he said.
He added that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is also conducting its own registration drive for overseas absentee voters.
“Unregistered overseas workers are asked to register first with POEA at the airports prior to departure, so this could also reduce the number of registrants here and in other countries,” he said.
Maximo said applicants for registration must bring a valid Philippine passport or a Department of Foreign Affairs certification, and a filled-out overseas absentee voters registration form to the consulate office on the fifth floor of the Marianas Business Plaza — the former Nauru Building — in Susupe.
