Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
Walker: Some have given non-residential addresses. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
WITH THREE weeks to go before the end of its reverification process, Director of Elections at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), Danville Walker, has disclosed that the names of more than 210,000 persons will not be carried forward on the next voters' list.
"Some of these are persons whose addresses have turned out (to be) garages, banks, and other business places. It is a large number and we are not going to carry forward their names, unless we hear from them," said Mr. Walker, who was guest speaker Saturday at the Capital and Credit Financial Group's Long-Service Awards, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
With respect to those persons who have given residential addresses, Mr. Walker stressed that his teams have made numerous trips to these homes, but the persons cannot be found.
Tomorrow, the EOJ will begin publishing the names of these persons. According to Mr. Walker, the organisation wants to ensure that voters vote in the constituency in which they live.
PROTECTION FROM VOTE BUYING
"One of our problems in Jamaica is not getting people to vote, but to get them to vote only one time," said Mr. Walker. He added that the EOJ has done a great deal of work in this area to reform the electoral system.
He also suggested that Government pass laws and move swiftly to ensure that necessary steps are taken to "protect ourselves from vote buying, which takes place during elections." He also called for measures to be implemented for the system to have auditable records of political parties, through a commission, where candidates must file returns to protect "us" from tainted money.
"One of the things that worries me tremendously, is the effect of money in our elections," said Mr. Walker.
He explains that in the past when people used to talk about voting out ballot boxes, it was believed that persons invaded police stations, then robbed or marked ballots and stuffed the boxes. But when he became director of elections, he realised that it was not like that.
According to Mr. Walker, back then, it was much easier to buy out the presiding officers, who sometimes would mark out ballots from overnight and stuff the boxes.
CLEAN VOTERS' LIST
"It does not take a lot of money to do this," Mr. Walker said.
All that has now changed, he said, and gave the assurance that the EOJ would continue to produce a clean voters' list. He attributes the success of the 2002 General Election and the Local Govern-ment elections to capable and competent workers at polling stations. Due to their effectiveness, for the first time some garrison constituencies sent back unused ballots, which in some cases, reduced the margin of victory.
