Applicants flock to the Comelec office in Quezon City on September 30, 2024, the last day of voter registration. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it would remove nearly half a million voter registrations in its system after getting flagged for being duplicates.

Almost 500,00 double and multiple registrants will be removed from the Comelec system after getting "hits" from Comelec's Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the poll body's chairman George Garcia said.

The double and multiple entries registered from July 15 to September 30, 2024, the last day of voter registration for next year's midterm elections, he said.

He said the poll body's election registration boards will conduct a special meeting within the month before finalizing the voter list this November.

The poll body will first determine the reason for the double or multiple registrations, he said, noting that there are times when transfer records have not been forwarded.

Garcia warned that registering more than once is an election offense.

"Kapag ikaw ay napatunayan na dalawang beses nagparehistro, ikaw ay pupuwedeng kasuhan ng election offense, one to six years imprisonment. Ginawa na po natin 'yan nung 2022 elections, madami pong kinasuhan ang ating law department ng election offense," he said.

(If you are proven to have registered twice, you can be charged with an election offense, which carries a prison sentence of one to six years. We implemented this during the 2022 elections, and many were charged by our law department with election offenses.)

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