By Svetlana Marshall
WITH 1,836 of the 2,339 ballot boxes already processed, the recount of votes cast at the General and Regional Elections could be completed well ahead of the June 13 deadline — if all goes well.

Some 503 ballot boxes are therefore left to be processed. On Monday (Day 27), a total of 97 ballot boxes were processed at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) where 12 workstations have been established to recount the votes cast three months ago on March 2. Of the 97 ballot boxes, 36 were from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 33 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), two from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 26 from Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice).

“Looking at the rate [at which] we have been moving over the past few days, it means that it is likely that we will complete [the recount] within the new duration that we have,” Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward told reporters on the outskirts of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Monday.

Providing a progress report, Ward noted that all of the votes cast in seven (7) of the 10 electoral districts have been recounted and as such, the focus now is on Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice). Six of the 12 work stations, according to Ward, have been assigned to process votes from Region Four, while three each have been assigned to Regions Six and 10.

All the votes from Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) have been recounted.

“Of those seven that have been completed, five [Regions One, Two, Three, Five and Seven] would have been certified,” Ward said, while noting that the Certificates of District Tabulation for the other two regions — Eight and Nine — would be signed off soon.

REJECTED BALLOTS
According to Ward, as of Monday morning there were 1, 536 rejected ballots for the general elections based on the five electoral districts for which Certificates of District Tabulation have been generated. Rejected ballots for the regional elections totalled 1,927.

In Region One, there were a total of 380 rejected ballots for the general elections, and 328 rejected ballots for the regional leections. In Region Two, there were 251 rejected ballots in the general elections and 380 for the regional elections. Based on the votes processed in Region Three, there were 485 rejected ballots for the general elections and another 618 for the regional elections. There were 256 rejected ballots for Region Five in the general elections and another 374 for the regional elections. In Region Seven there were 164 rejected ballots in the general elections and 227 for the regional elections.

Ward explained that a ballot is deemed rejected “for want of official mark, which is the stamp, unmarked or void of uncertainty, marked for more than one party’s list of candidates, or mark so that the elector can be identified.”

“Anything within those categories is what constitutes a rejected ballot,” she added.
While Ward was able to provide a breakdown of the ballots rejected thus far based on the five regions certified, she was unable to indicate how many of those ballots were unstamped. There have been cases in which half of the ballot was stamped and the other half unstamped. According to her, the commission is still deliberating on how it will treat with the ballots that were partially stamped.

“At this point I can’t say where they are at with their discussion,” Ward said, while noting that there is a concern that some of the unstamped ballots may be that of members of the Disciplined Services. The Disciplined Services –- members of the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force and Guyana Prison Service –- voted 10 days ahead of E-Day.

“As you know, the Disciplined Services’ ballots were not stamped when they voted…It is to be stamped at the time of intermixing at the respective polling stations where they have been gazetted to be intermixed; and so because of some of the numbers that were emanating from some of those boxes, it was believed that some of those could have been a case where Disciplined Services ballots were not stamped,” the GECOM PRO explained.

The seven-member elections commission met on Monday at the conference centre, and though the issue reportedly surfaced again, no decision was made. The national recount commenced on May 6 at the centre after an Order was gazetted by the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh. Initially, the recount was set for a period of 25 days, however, the commission last Friday amended the Order to facilitate an extension to June 13.