By Leslie Ann Aquino The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a special exclusive registration for senior citizens and persons with disabilities this Wednesday, September 5. The poll body said the special registration will be held nationwide in all offices of the Election Officer nationwide. (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) “Here’s to pursuing a more inclusive electoral exercise. Magpa-rehistro na!” said the COMELEC in its Twitter account. Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez earlier urged voters in need of special assistance on election day such as PWDs, illiterates, or indigenous people (IP) to indicate this when they register for the May 2019 National and Local polls by checking the appropriate box in their voter registration application form. To note, in the last Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, one of the issues encountered at the polling places was that people who needed special assistance weren’t immediately identified by the pollworkers. As a result, persons with disability weren’t always accommodated at accessible polling places (APPs), the special precincts for persons needing special assistance, located at the ground floors of the school buildings where the elections were being conducted. The same went for senior citizens, some of who had to climb some stairs just so they could vote. Data from the Comelec records show that there are 6,695,251 senior citizen voters and 318,013 PWD voters in the 2016 national and local elections.