AS the curtain comes down on the much-anticipated University of Guyana Students’ Society Elections, GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander is confident that the use of electronic vote counting machines, similar to those used for the student elections, would be of some benefit to the process at general elections. 

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Commissioner Alexander, in his capacity as Registrar of the University of Guyana, failed to comment on whether the technology would make its way to the national level in Guyana but he said instead that “GECOM will be observing the use of these machines.”
Alexander did, however, put his faith in the technologically advanced system in reducing the time needed to count votes at the end of polls. Commenting on the use of such machines at the national level, he disclosed that in Guyana there are some 3,000 polling stations which operate on polling day.
At a recent press conference at the Education Lecture Theatre (ELT) of the University of Guyana, Turkeyen, representatives from the DELIAN Project, a Canadian non-profit organisation, demonstrated the use of the electronic vote counting machine.
Managing Director of the DELIAN Project, Allan Best, explained that the machines carry “two memory cards.” Within these memory cards, he said, is “where the actual images are recorded.”
Best further said that the machine produces a receipt-like tape which shows the results of the polls. The machines, however, are not limited to this system, but also have a transmission capability.
“If you are using transmission capability… the actual results… are sent to the Central Server of the Election Management Body.” In his presentation, Best spoke on the request by the Electoral Office of Jamaica for the PCOS machines to be used at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica in March 2014, as a “pilot similar to what’s happening here.”
Best was making a comparison in the use of the machines for the UG Students’ Society elections to the Student Guild elections at the UWI campus in Jamaica.
Placing focus on the use of the term “pilot”, this publication inquired whether there was any indication from the Jamaican authorities that the machines would be further used at the national level. The Managing Director failed to respond; instead reaffirming that the only feedback received was an intention to use the machine for the next Student Guild elections at the Jamaican UWI campus.
He added that if the island were to undertake such a venture, then it would require the involvement of the Private Sector in cushioning the economic cost. Best stressed too that the NGO he represents is not equipped to deal with such a demand.

(By Derwayne Wills)