Voting by Disciplined Services without any major hiccups
THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is satisfied that the first round of voting in the 2011 General and Regional Elections yesterday was completely without any major hiccups. This assurance by the Public Relations Officer Mr. Vishnu Persaud came amidst reports that the absence of the “six digit number” on the ballot papers being used for voting by members of the Disciplined Services is evidence that the elections are being rigged.
The Commission, in a statement on the issue, insisted that procedure for voting by members of the Disciplined Services does not include the stamping of the ballot papers with the “six digit number”.
In explaining the voting process for the Disciplined Services, GECOM said ballots for this are conducted in the same manner as that of the non-resident electors. It added that the ballot officer supplied to every person entitled to vote at the respective place of poll, a ballot paper in an unsealed envelope.  On each envelope, his/her name, polling district, division code number and polling station were stated.
After voting, the elector was required to seal the envelope before placing it in the ballot box provided by the ballot attendant. These envelopes should have been sent to the Chief Election Officer or a representative who will then sort these out and place each envelope in a packet (envelope PE 20).
Persaud explained that the Chief Election Officer will send all sealed envelopes with the ballots cast to the respective returning officer for each geographical district, along with a copy of written record of number of envelopes.
Before the close of the poll on elections day, in the presence of the polling agents, the presiding officer shall stamp them with the official mark for that polling station at the top for general election and at the bottom for regional election, without exposing the secrecy of the ballots.
This should allay fears by those peddling these reports, Persaud added. According to him, the procedure has been used in at least three previous elections.
Voting by the Disciplined Services opened at 07:00 hrs yesterday, and Police Commissioner Henry Greene was the first to cast his vote at the Police Officers Mess, Eve Leary, joining just under 7,000 members of Guyana’s security forces who cast their votes for the party of their choice.
People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar, visited the Eve Leary site and, in an invited comment, observed that the process was moving along smoothly.
“We have done much for the security forces, improving their capacity and their quality of life, and the Opposition has no good record to stand on. There are questionable actions by the Opposition and what they have done to security….we have a good chance.”
Ramotar said, “Once things are going along well, I am happy.”
Ms. Arica Amsterdam from the Electoral Assistance Bureau, an observer group, told the Guyana Chronicle that the process yesterday was a smooth one, without hiccups.
“There was one problem with the ink, where one officer voted, but the ink wasn’t very visible. He repeated the process and that concern was resolved…GECOM was prompt with its staff at 07:00hrs and officers were able to cast their votes early,” she said.
According to GECOM, it is satisfied that the first round of voting in the General and Regional Elections yesterday was completely without any major hiccup.
Polls closed at 19:00hrs last evening.