THE EDITOR, Sir:PLEASE ALLOW me some space to respond to Mr. Frank Hill, and like-minded persons, who wrote a letter titled 'EOJ challenged on voter registration', that was printed on May 13, in your newspaper.
In the first paragraph, Mr. Hill states that the rights granted in 1944 in the form of adult suffrage will be taken away because of a 'technicality'. The fact is that under our law, an individual has the right to vote in one constituency, the one in which they are ordinarily resident. You can't just pick any constituency, as some politicians would probably wish; it has to be the one in which you are resident.
I ask a basic question on behalf of all electors. If you do not live in my constituency, why should you be allowed to vote in my constituency? Why should you be allowed to come into my constituency to vote and then leave me here to live with your choice while you enjoy representation somewhere else? You do not have that right under Jamaican law and my view is that you should not have that right.
With respect to giving opportunity to participate in the governance of this country, I can only point to the fact that we have 68 offices islandwide, permanently staffed, to afford every eligible citizen the opportunity to register. Australia has 70.
We started this exercise one year ago and have employed approximately 8,000 persons going to every house in every polling division in every electoral division in every constituency. Yes, when you undertake such a large exercise, it is possible we might have missed a house or two, but when you are paying people per elector verified, it is unlikely you will miss much.
QUALITY CONTROL TEAMS
We then sent quality control teams to recheck all electors who were at risk of not being carried forward to the next voters' list and found that the work carried out by the first teams was well done, and where we found errors we made the corrections.
We then gave listings to all political parties to check if they could find persons who were at risk of not being carried forward to the new voters' list and also mailed a letter to all those persons whom we did not find at their residences advising them that they were at risk of not being included in the next voters' list.
Why, you may ask, is it not absurd to send a letter to the home of a person you have visited several times and were unable to find them? Because, if you are still ordinarily resident you will get the mail. If you are not resident, you won't and if you are not resident, you should not be carried forward to the next voters' list and you will not be carried forward.
We have spent over $600 million on this exercise to ensure that persons are registered in the constituency in which they are resident. Why? Because, this is serious business and those who would undermine our democracy are still very much among us and are prepared to move voters to the extent that our casting a ballot against them is meaningless because they have 'moved' so many into your constituency.
Shortly, we will publish the names of all persons who are not likely to be carried forward, still giving yet another, though final, opportunity for persons to make it known to us where they are so they can be verified on the list in that constituency.
We have done a lot to protect the rights of our electors and to give every eligible person the opportunity to be registered where they are resident. Let there be no doubt in your mind also that when the time comes for the hard decisions, we at the Electoral Advisory Committee will take them so as to protect the democratic institutions of our country.
I am, etc.,
DANVILLE WALKER
Director of Elections
