Over 37 million of the 65.7 million voters for the upcoming May 2022 polls fall under the "registered youth voters" population or the 18 to 41 years old age group, data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) revealed.
According to records obtained by Manila Bulletin, a total of 65,721,230 Filipino citizens have registered locally to exercise their right to vote this May 9, which includes 32,076,993 male voters and 33,644,237 female voters.
But apart from the rise in the number of registered individuals, Comelec data also showed a greater number of voters belonging to the “registered youth voters” population with a total of 37,015,901, composed of 18,419,887 males and 18,596,014 females. More than a half of the said population are the 19,978,729 voters aged 18 to 29, the 14,496,910 individuals aged 30 to 39, together with the older Filipino citizens who complete the sum with a population of 2,540,262.
This group, which is seen by the Comelec as a “prime mover of the May 2022 poll results”, will play an important role in choosing the next Philippine leaders, as mentioned by Comelec Spokesperson James B. Jimenez in previous interviews, noting that the commission is expecting a “very interesting development” that will probably be beneficial to the country from the youth sector.
Meanwhile, of the remaining 28.7 million voters who belong to the 42 years old and above age range, at least 10.2 million senior citizens are expected to vote this Monday, including 4.5 million men and 5.6 million women over 60 years old.
Calabarzon, NCR most ‘vote-rich’ regions
Aside from the voters’ age, records also revealed that the regions where most voters reside are the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Region with 9,192,205 registered individuals and the National Capital Region (NCR) which has a total of 7,301,393.
For Calabarzon or Region 4-A, most of the 9.1 million voters are coming from Cavite with 2,302,353, Laguna with 2,044,796, and Batangas with 1,819,071.
For NCR, on the other hand, most are from Quezon City with 1,403,895, Manila City with 1,112,081, Caloocan City with 700,279, Makati City with 458,362, and Pasig City with 457,370.
In addition, making it to the top 5, as well, are Region 3 or Central Luzon with 7,289,055 voters, Region 7 or Central Visayas with 5,202,289, and Region 6 or Western Visayas with 5,026,305.
‘Vote-rich’ provinces, cities
Latest Comelec records were also able to determine the provinces and cities where most of the over 65.7 million voters are.
Topping the list of provinces are Cebu with 3.2 million voters, Cavite with 2.3 million, and Pangasinan and Laguna with more than two million Comelec-registered individuals each.
Meanwhile, top NCR cities Manila and Quezon also ranked first and second, respectively, in the nationwide list. To note, of all the cities nationwide, only Manila and Quezon City breached the one-million mark. The two cities are followed by Davao, Cebu, and Caloocan.
Added layer of security from PCVL, EDCVL
The Comelec also conducted a so-called "opening of books" of voters’ lists in April.
Explaining the election day computerized voters list (EDCVL), Commissioner George Erwin M. Garcia noted that if the name of a person is found in this "book inside a precinct", the person will be allowed to vote.
On the other hand, should the name of that person is not included in the EDCVL, the person will be prohibited from exercising his/her right to vote despite having a name in the list posted outside the precinct or the posted computerized voters list (PCVL).
As such, if the EDCVL and PCVL do not match, there might be some irregularities, the official maintained, saying that some people are illegally changing the PCVL to confuse the voters.