Persons not confirmed dead will remain on voters' list - EOJ
Published:Monday | November 30, 2015 | 12:00 AM
The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) yesterday released the new voters' list with an additional 34,907 voters added to it. But if there are dead people included on this new list, they will remain there if the EOJ cannot confirm that they are, in fact, deceased.
The voters' list now brings the total number of registered electors to 1,824,410. This represents a net increase of 31,371 over the 1,793,039 names on the previous list published in May. While 34,907 new names have been added, 3,536 names were removed.
Responding to questions from The Gleaner, the EOJ has said it has taken several steps to purge the list of dead persons, but maintains that it will keep those on the list that it cannot confirm as dead.
"The EOJ continues to gather the names of persons who have been reported as dead from various sources, including the Registrar General's Department, newspapers, death notices, funeral programmes, information from hospitals, police stations, political representatives, among others. Once we are able to confirm that these persons have died, their names are removed from the list," the EOJ said.
EOJ confident names can't be used
The electoral group is not worried, either, that unscrupulous persons will seek to abuse this situation. In fact, the EOJ said it is confident that these names will not be used during the elections if the persons are, in fact, dead.
"Persons who we are not able to confirm as dead will remain. However, the EOJ is satisfied that measures are in place to ensure that no one can vote using the names of such persons," a response from the EOJ read.
In respect of enumerated persons who do not see their names on the voters' list, the EOJ has said, "All eligible persons who have applied for registration will be added to the voters' list. However, if eligible persons can prove that they were registered but their names are not on the list, the law provides methods/conditions under which these persons' names can be added to the list."
According to the EOJ, "All registered electors, whether civilians or members of the police or military, are on the 'general' voters' list. The names of registered electors who are identified as police officers are extracted from the 'general' voters' list and collated to form what is referred to as the police voters' list."
The EOJ also disclosed to The Gleaner that it is in a satisfactory state of readiness for the upcoming election but noted that preparations were currently on hold.
The public may view the voters' list at post offices, the offices of the returning officer, and on the ECJ's website.