Disgruntled voters brave heat, rain, and delays in chaotic election day

Voting was extended in several polling divisions as long lines of disgruntled voters, many waiting for extended periods to cast their ballots, was an unpleasant feature of yesterday’s general election.

Sweat-drenched voters battled searing conditions under an unrelenting summer sun that gave way to more discomfort with thunderstorms in the afternoon with hundreds yet to vote at some polling stations.

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) cast blame on a protracted verification process as scores of electors turned up at polling centres with expired or no voter identification cards.

The law allows for electors without an official voter identification card to vote, once they can answer a series of questions verifying their identity.

That process, however, resulted in extended delays at polling stations islandwide.

Director of Elections Glasspole Brown told reporters gathered at the EOJ’s Election Centre in St Andrew that there will be a full examination of what went wrong.

“We are doing our assessment. There were a number of elements where we had some problems, but we also had a lot of positives. There were issues in terms of the lines and the pace at which people voted. One of the issues we had is that a number of voters continue to come to the polling station with expired voter identification cards, so that made the extended the time for the processing and that impacted us. However, by tomorrow, we will be doing a detailed assessment in terms of what took place today.”

The Dr Kenny Anthony-led Organisation of American States Observation Mission cited problems with the Electronic Voter Identification System (EVIS) as an area of concern.

The EOJ had piloted the use of EVIS, where voters’ identities are verified by scanning their fingerprints, in seven constituencies.

Among the objectives of EVIS is to prevent the impersonation of voters and multiple voting by persons.

However, by midmorning, it was forced to temporarily suspend its use in at least four constituencies due to problems with its execution.

Brown also acknowledged the problems experienced in the constituencies where the EVIS was used, but he defended the pilot programme insisting that voters identification was being accepted simultaneously:

“That was in place. At one point, we paused in four of the seven constituencies. Where we had an issue, we paused and went to the manual system. The other three continued with no issue, but as I said, we will do the assessment in terms of all the issues and we will see where we go from here.”

Integrity lamps

Voters also saw an increase in the use of integrity lamps before being allowed to cast their ballots.

“That was a positive. What we have started to do is to basically train our workers to abide by what is required by the law. The law requires that we check for ink on the finger, check the validity of the ID cards, and a part of that process was us using the integrity lamps. So you saw a greater use of the integrity lamps in this election than what we have had in the past.”

With voting delayed during regular voting hours, scores of voters were still in line at several polling stations after the official 5 p.m. closure.

“There were a few. I think a number of them I would say maybe about 20 per cent went beyond 5 p.m. Remember, we had rain, etc., and we took a decision adhering to the law, that whoever was in the line at 5 p.m., we would allow them to continue voting and that process continued. My quick assessment was about 20 per cent, but most of them were completed by 6 p.m,” Brown said.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com