The San Francisco Philippine Consulate General (SF-PCG)  reported a successful overseas absentee voters’ registration despite many challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its post-registration assessment report, the SF-PCG came up with a total of 10,616 served overseas voter registrants for the period 2019-2021 with 10,475 new registrants in Northern California, northern Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington State, and Wyoming under the Consulate’s jurisdiction.

The remaining 141 are those who: reactivated or deactivated registrations for failing to vote in the last two elections; got certification for a registered voter in the Philippines who will be voting abroad and, thus, will become an overseas voter; needed correction as a result of change of name, needed recapture of biometric information; needed transfer of records from one country to the US and change of address. 

The SF-PCG attributed the uptick in registration to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccination of Consulate personnel, and the uninterrupted provision of consular services to the public, including the processing of dual citizenship applications.

 The Consulate’s special Saturday services from March to October 2021, and its consular outreach services in states outside California (Denver, Colorado, Juneau , Anchorage, and Fairbanks in Alaska, Seattle in Washington, Salt Lake City in Utah, Portland in Oregon, and Bozeman in Montana) encouraged more Filipinos to register and participate in the electoral process.

Two whole special Saturdays of registration were also held towards the end of registration periods — September 25 and October 9, 2021 – that greatly helped ease the burden on both the registrants and the Consulate staff members.

Also, the Consulate made available the spacious Kalayaan Hall of the Consulate that accommodated the October 14 last-day registrants surge and expedite the process and overseas voter registrations while observing physical distancing at the site.

Registered overseas voters with the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco are also reminded to ensure that they have used their current address or the address where they expect to be at the time of voting when they registered. They are encouraged to update their postal address or residential address by filing an application for change of address until December 3.

Concerned applicants may download and accomplish the Overseas Voter Registration form (https://pcgsanfrancisco.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PCGSF_OVF_No1.pdf) and submit it to the Consulate along with their proof of Philippine citizenship such as a valid Philippine passport or a Dual Citizenship Identification Certificate.

Under Republic Act number 9189 as amended by Republic Act number 10590, all citizens of the Philippines or dual Filipino-American citizens, who are not disqualified by law, at least 18 years of age by 9 May 2022 may register as an Overseas Voter and vote for President, Vice-President, Senators, and Party List Representatives in the upcoming 2022 elections. 

Those who voted in the 2016 and/or 2019 National Elections are still considered registered voters. Failure to vote in two consecutive elections (2016 and 2019 elections), however resulted in the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) having their voter’s registration deactivated and should have to their status activated during the registration period.

The next election is on May 9, 2022, and overseas voters will be able to vote for President, Vice President, Senators and Party List Representatives. 

Consul General in San Francisco Neil Frank Ferrer said,  “The numbers for overseas voting registration at the Consulate steadily rose over the past weeks. This shows an increasing interest among our kababayans not only to choose their leaders in next year’s elections, but also to make their stake in the future of our country.” 

The public is also encouraged to send an email to ovs@pcgsanfrancisco.org for inquiries on overseas voting at the Consulate.