Youth urged to register, use power in 2010 polls..

Youth and first-time voters should take advantage of the summer break to register for next year's 2010 elections, various youth groups said in a gathering on Saturday.

According to Tanya Hamada, a core member of YVote and Young Public Servants, the summer break is the best time to register for the national elections since the registration period has been shortened.

Earlier this week, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) issued a directive advancing the deadline for registration from December 15, 2009 to October 31, 2009 in order to prepare for poll automation.

The move, according to Hamada, can be considered the "single major threat" to election registration. “As registration is cut on October, students won’t be able to register during the semestral and Christmas breaks,” she said.

Likewise, Vencer Crisostomo of Kabataang Pinoy, said a shortened registration period “deprives a significant number of first-time voters the right to register” during their available breaks.

The directive prompted YVote and various youth organizations to encourage registrations during the summer break. “If they [youth and first-time voters] don’t register over this summer, they might not get the chance,” Hamada said.

Swing vote

Since late last year, there have been various initiatives to encourage the youth and first-time voters to register for the national elections.

According to YVote, 54% or 34 million of the voting population in 2010 “fall within 15 to 34 years old,” and 6.4 million potential voters are not yet registered for the elections.

Of the six million unregistered voters, 13% are young people who are mostly are unaware that they need to register before voting and that they can register anytime.

Hamada said this is already a strong voting base for candidates who are eyeing the presidency come 2010.

Group initiatives

Given the need for voters’ awareness, COMELEC and various organizations have been actively pushing for registration, particularly through mobile registration.

Since November last year, COMELEC has been coordinating with schools and conducting early registrations for students. The COMELEC calendar also indicates that mobile registrations will continue despite the summer break.

Likewise, Hamada said YVote has been receiving queries and invitations from various youth organizations who want to help encourage citizens in their areas to register.

Hamada said their general assembly on Saturday just before the summer break was the best time to organize interested parties to promote their summer campaign.

Aside from discussing initiatives and courses of action for the campaign, youth organizations are also encouraged to set up mobile registrations in their respective areas.

YVote has helped distribute information materials for first-time voters such as registration forms which can be downloaded from the Internet.

“All the organizations here are capable of setting up their own campaigns,” Hamada explained. More than 100 students from different organizations came to Saturday's event.

Aside from empowering youth organizations, YVote also pushed for Saturday registrations. It has been coordinating with the COMELEC and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) for the holding of election registration campaigns in schools and barangays.

“Youth registration is still the first step,” said Hamada. “Once the youths have registered, we’ll be focusing on awareness campaigns on responsible voting.”