SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – With the Commission on Elections voters’ registration period drawing to a close, potential voters race against the clock in the final week that ends on October 31. The result? Even after COMELEC extended its office hours this week, long queues and disgruntled registrants still mar the process.
To further raise awareness on the final week of registration, COMELEC and local elections watchdog Lente PH partnered with Rappler for the #VotersRegistration Twitter conversation on October 27, 2015. This provided users with a much-needed avenue for feedback on the registration process.
The conversation harnessed the hashtags #VotersRegistration and #PHVote. According to Reach, Rappler’s social media analytics app, these hashtags generated 52,374,270 million impressions (or the number of people who saw said hashtags on their Twitter feeds) during the conversation period, which ran from 4 pm to 7 pm, 691 posts were generated by 454 unique authors.
Let’s now look at the key insights the conversation generated:
Early birds
While some people were bogged down by their schedule, there were those who opted for early registration. For a few lucky registrants, the whole process took no longer than 15 minutes:
.@rapplerdotcom Registered in my hometown when I turned 18. Took me no more than 15 minutes! No line at all. #VotersRegistration #PHVote
Even some voters outside the country experienced hassle-free registration, as @MkSurf8 can attest in his trip to the Philippine embassy in Singapore:
@rapplerdotcom not a hassle at all here in Phil Embassy, S’pore.15 mins from the moment I entered and exited embassy #VotersRegistration
One of the early birds was even treated to a pretty sight at the COMELEC office:
@rapplerdotcom i registered early this morning and it took me less than 15 mins plus there’s a cute comelec officer so i had no problems
Ain’t so easy goin’ tardy
Those who opted to wait for until the last minute reported long queues and even longer hours, as Twitter user @paulgabrielllll stated:
@rapplerdotcom it took 5hrs for me to reg in pasig city hall.
Some of the satellite registration sites were hounded by logistical problems:
@rapplerdotcom In robinsons otis, they only receive 500 registrants today that angered those in line. They said they only have 2 computers.
People cutting in line (boo!):
@rapplerdotcom Arrived around 2:40 pm and finished registering at 6:40. That was 4hrs of lining up THRICE, while some others cut the line…
And one user was cut off from the registration process altogether:
@rapplerdotcom Went at 11AM (sched on the COMELEC site 10am-6pm); was turned away and told I should’ve showed up by 8am #VotersRegistration
Sound suggestions
Twitter users, though finding a few steps in the process questionable, do have some enlightening suggestions for the COMELEC. COMELEC partnering with various malls for satellite registration apparently is a very good thing:
@rapplerdotcom @joshjoshjao yug registration gawin sa mga malls maganda yun kasi mas accessible yun sa urban areas.
Bright spark @theMARRRA kept it short, simple, and sweet:
@rapplerdotcom satellite registration in universities for students. #VotersRegistration
Of course, keeping the public informed should be a priority as well:
@rapplerdotcom comprehensive dissemination of information about the registration period and displaying its’ good-bad effects and benefits.
And for those going to register this week, here’s sound advice from @reyaika:
Download, print and answer the form beforehand! Saves you a lot of time from lining up. @rapplerdotcom #PHVote
High hopes
No one should ever give up on registering for the 2016 elections. As the COMELEC registration deadline looms ahead with no further plans for an extension, people are urged to practice their right to suffrage – no matter how jaded they may be about the elections.
@rapplerdotcom Better remind them that this is their chance to enhance the lives of their future children.
@rapplerdotcom That there is no reason to lose hope. The future of this country is in our very hands. The least we could do is do our part.
Finally, the one thing that should really wrap up the whole election period:
@rapplerdotcom NO BIO, NO BOTO, NO REKLAMO.
Have some other thoughts and insights on early/late registration? Sign up and write about it on X, or check out #PHVote on Twitter and Facebook and tell us about your #VotersRegistration experience! – Rappler.com/Noel Lopez with additional research by Marguerite de Leon
Noel Lopez is an intern for Rappler’s Social Media Team.
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