Devon Dick

Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed an evil electoral law, which makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment if an elector attempts to vote openly.

I realised that the electoral law was evil when the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Prof. Errol Miller, stated on RJR's 'Beyond the Headlines' that the Commission did not recommend that the elector who openly votes be criminalised but had recommended that it be considered a spoilt ballot and be re-issued with another ballot and if done again would be considered a rejected ballot. Therefore, this evil idea of criminalising the elector did not originate with the Electoral Commission. Therefore, who has taken the Parliament down this wicked and ill-advised route?

Victim elector punished

On June 11, I wrote an article entitled 'Open Voting should not be a Crime', in which I argued that making it a crime does not deal decisively with the problem. Furthermore, it punished the victim elector rather than the beneficiaries of the corruption. This is so because the person who openly votes does so because he or she may have been threatened to vote a particular way and has to demonstrate it to the party observers at the polling station. Former chairman of CAFFE, Dr. Alfred Sangster, from his experience said that persons openly voted "to avoid possible death for voting 'the wrong way' " (July 10). Therefore, the persons who fear for their lives and have been threatened now have an additional threat of imprisonment hanging over their heads. Thanks to this evil electoral law, the choice for the victim voter is either death or imprisonment!

The reason people vote openly is well known. Sunday Gleaner writers Daraine Luton and Sajoune Rose quoted a 21-year-old university student who said she was going to vote for the PNP (although she does not favour them) because of safety concerns (July 16). I know a young lady who, when she turned 18, went to vote in a JLP stronghold and thugs told her that they have voted for her already and all she had to do was dip her finger in the ink, which she did. Since then, she has not bothered to vote in subsequent elections.

Strong, decisive action needed

What is needed is strong and decisive action against the 'Kingfishes' of the electoral fraud and those who benefit. The simple solution lies in following the original recommendation of the Electoral Commission of 'spoiling' the ballot. The candidates who benefit from the voting irregularities are getting off too easily. A couple weeks ago, a former parliamentarian who lost the seat in court and who served as Minister of State had a waiver passed in Parliament, which allowed her to keep the salary she got while she should not have been an MP. I bet you if she had to pay back every cent it would be a discouragement to future electoral fraud by candidates. In addition, if such candidates are disqualified from representational politics it would drastically reduce voter irregularities. This evil electoral law is attacking the frightened voter instead of dealing with the beneficiaries of the corruption.

It is amazing that this evil electoral law was passed without a comment from the church councils. That would not happen in the United Kingdom, where every legislation for the House of Commons is reviewed by the Evangelical Alliance. However, in Jamaica it seems that the church councils are not interested in justice issues. This is sad because God is just and expects that righteousness and justice would run in the country like a stream. This evil electoral law needs to be repealed before August 27.