…GECOM votes to highlight names on voters’ list

TO avoid multiple and substitute voting in the coming elections, Commissioners on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have proposed that the names of persons who did not participate in the house-to-house registration exercise but are on the Preliminary List be highlighted on the Official List of Electors (OLE).

These highlighted names would be on high alert for staff at polling stations on March 2, 2020 to ensure that no multiple and substitute voting takes place.

Meanwhile, a proposal has also been made for the “tens of thousands” of persons who were registered in 2008 but have not yet collected their ID cards, to be excluded from the OLE. Coming out of the commission’s statutory meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Vincent Alexander explained that while the matters were thoroughly discussed, the commissioners did not come to a final decision due to the absence of Commissioner Sase Gunraj.

“[What was discussed was] the indication to electors who did not participate in the house-to-house exercise, whose names are on the preliminary list, to come forward and do a verification. Which verification, if not done, could result in their names being highlighted on the eventual voters’ list,” Alexander said.

PPP-nominated Commissioners, Bibi Shadick and Robeson Benn have condemned the move. “Apparently, these commissioners…they’re afraid of people going and vote so they are trying the hardest they can to get as many people as they can not to exercise their franchise [to vote] and that’s a battle I will fight to the last,” Commissioner Shadick said.

However, Alexander explained that there would be no deletion of names and that the names are instead being highlighted as names which can be compromised during the voting process. He told media operatives: “All it means is that you’re creating an awareness of people whose whereabouts are unknown and we’re therefore trying to create a greater alertness at the polling station when people come to vote with those names because, as we have said at the very inception, a bloated list provides the opportunity for multiple and substitute voting and so we need to be alert about the names which can be used for the purpose.”

ID CARDS

The commission is also faced with the decision of what will be done with the “tens of thousands” of persons who were registered during the 2008 house-to-house registration exercise but, to date, have not collected their ID cards. “The consensus on this matter is that we do everything to contact them. Whether it’s [by] mail; whether its publication in the papers, everything should be done to contact them. If they’re not contacted then the contentious issue is what do we do,” Alexander said.

It has been proposed that these individuals be excluded from the OLE as Alexander stated that efforts have been made in the past to contact these individuals who have still not verified their existence in the country.

PPP Commissioners have contested that the law does not stipulate that citizens need an ID card to vote and therefore the collection of these cards should be non-related to who is included or excluded from the voters’ list. In response, Alexander stated that the proposed elimination of the names following the failure to collect one’s ID card over a decade now is merely a means of the commission fine-tuning its verification of the list.

“It’s like an objection. So, the issue is not the ID card, the issue is that these persons, since 2008 and beyond 2008 have not, in any way, presented themselves to be present; to be known; to be alive; to be existing; to be resident. And, in calling them, writing to them gives us the opportunity to make a determination,” he stated.

“No one is simply denying them the opportunity. We have already, on two occasions, sought to find these persons by physical visits to the places where they were registered…the National Registration Act gives all power and does provide [for this action].”

Likewise, a final decision was not made in regards to this proposal. Meanwhile, the PPP-nominated commissioners have threatened to take the matters to the court should it not pan out their way. But Alexander said that they who have accused the government-nominated commissioners of working to delay the elections would actually be doing the same. He assured, “We are not delaying anything because all of these processes will be realised within the timeframe for the purpose of elections on March 2, 2020. There is absolutely no intent [to delay]. The fact that the decisions are being delayed by them [PPP-nominated Commissioners] is what in fact may point to an attempt at delaying. But we’re not in the mood for a delaying. We’re not going to court.”

Apart from these matters, the commissioners have agreed to proceed with interviews for the recruitment of an assistant chief elections officer, a civic and voter education officer, a research officer and a logistics officer.