By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
PARLIAMENTARY Commissioner Sherlyn Hall yesterday vowed that his department will clean up the voter register and “get it right” for the country’s general election after a report revealed that hundreds of names have been duplicated across multiple constituencies.
Mr Hall emphasised that the register was a manual system, and as such, most of the discrepancies were due to human error at the data-entry level.
Insisting that “no typo” will jeopardise the election, he advised that his department took responsibility for the mistakes and noted they have 14 to 15 days to clean up the register once it is closed.
As for duplicate registrants, he maintained that the onus was on each applicant not to commit perjury by registering more than once.
Mr Hall said: “The system is manual. When you appear before the revising officer, he asks, ‘did you register before or after October 2015?’ The person has a responsibility to speak the truth, plus we give each person a receipt.
“I could remember when I registered, certainly you can remember when you registered, so the onus is on you to speak the truth so that you do not register again.”
Pressed further for an explanation on the discrepancies, Mr Hall said: “Yeah, most of them (are human error), the typos yeah, the duplicates are people. Whether they did it deliberately or not some say I forgot I registered, so I go to the revising officer because the question that was asked to you is if you registered before and once you sign that second logbook and you registered before, you’re committing perjury by saying no I didn’t register.”
Mr Hall added: “We will do the best job to clean up the register; the law gives us 14 to 15 days, we’ll get it right. We’re going to get the register cleaned up. No typo will jeopardise the election, the name of the person is in the right polling station, in the right constituency.”
The discrepancies were published by The Nassau Guardian yesterday, in an article that stated the register is “in a mess,” and also noted discrepancies concerning birth dates that were from previous centuries.
In one published example, the birthdate of a man registered in Killarney polling division number five is listed as October 3, 1764.
The Tribune requested a copy of the register yesterday, but was advised that there would be none available until Friday.
Yesterday, Mr Hall took issue with the newspaper’s characterisation, stating: “I would not say it’s in a mess. There have been some mistakes, typos and we are doing those corrections as we speak.”
He continued: “In any organisation you have secretaries who are typing stuff, they make mistakes because they’re humans, and when we find the mistakes made we do the necessary corrections.
“With respect to some duplicate persons whose name appears twice,” he said, “the onus is on the applicant to speak the truth and nothing but the truth.”
Last month, a Harbour Island man faced the charge of making a false declaration, contrary to the Parliamentary Elections Act.
Andrew Johnson, 57, and a long serving Water and Sewerage Corporation employee, denied the charge before Magistrate Samuel McKinney and his trial is set for April 25.
Mr Johnson’s arrest followed an announcement by Mr Hall that several persons had attempted to register twice at different locations for the same constituency, adding that the irregularity was picked up by the Parliamentary Registration Department’s computer database.
At a Free National Movement (FNM) rally in Cat Island the previous week, party Leader Dr Hubert Minnis claimed that the Parliamentary Registration Department’s computer system crashed and erased the names of registered voters.
Dr Minnis did not offer evidence of this, but claimed that the government was trying to “steal” the 2017 general election.
Mr Hall denied those claims.
At that time, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage defended the integrity of the system against what he described as recurring accusations levelled at the Parliamentary Registration Department. He charged that attempts to discredit those tasked with handling the electoral process was “shameful”, pointing to the country’s record for hosting democratic elections.
The Parliamentary Registration Department has been under intense scrutiny in recent months, as critics across the political divide have raised concerns over the department’s capacity to conduct the elections in light of its handling of the two referenda this term.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 8 months ago
That fact that MrHall is WAITING to correct these errors says a lot. If he can give candidates a digital copy upon request, at the end of every day he could have been running a report on new registrants to capture errors. This could have been done WITH the manual system. With that in place he could have had minimal errors to correct next week.
I agree with Mr Ingraham, the fact that he remains in place means he's serving someone's agenda, confusion at the polls.
Reality_Check 7 years, 8 months ago
Christie is regretting that his government decided to give Sherlyn Hall a second chance as Parliamentary Commissioner rather than sack him a long time ago. Apparently Christie became enraged upon learning from Hall that the vast majority of voters who have registered more than once or in more than one constituency are well known 'die-hard' supporters of the FNM.
themessenger 7 years, 8 months ago
“We will do the best job to clean up the register; the law gives us 14 to 15 days, we’ll get it right." Sure you will, the question is will it be before or after the election?
sheeprunner12 7 years, 8 months ago
What Hall means is ........ once Perry rings the bell on April 11th, he has 2 weeks to clean up the register ......... OK, fine .......... but can Bahamians have faith that Hall is professionally competent and/or politically removed enough to ensure that the voters' register will be "cleaned up" and distributed to the political parties/returning officers to be ready for a May 9th election???????
TalRussell 7 years, 8 months ago
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2017…
DDK 7 years, 8 months ago
Funneee!
alfalfa 7 years, 8 months ago
Sheeprunner12, I think the "Data Entry Personnel" have more smarts than Mr. Hall. It is evident that he is in over his head. I think that you and I both agree that putting faith in his ability and promise to clean up the register is foolhardy. Ever wonder what he does for the four years of non-election activity?
sheeprunner12 7 years, 8 months ago
We saw him in action in the Gender Referendum .......... it was a disaster
John 7 years, 8 months ago
What it means is that persons working the polls will have to be vigilant and keen observers. Remember the days when Phillip Bethel used Bahamasair to fly his supporters back to governor's harbour to vote, even though they were residents in other parts of the country, many working at Bahamasair station. Then there was the occasion when it was alleged that dead people were voting. Persons who had died had not been taken off the register and it was alleged, but not proven, that persons were using their voters cards to vote.
thomas 7 years, 8 months ago
This is where they should have spent the money that was wasted on the new NIB cards and the staff and consultants for NHI.
Seaman 7 years, 8 months ago
The real fun will start on election day....... When the results of the election will be known to all but Hall will not know what is going on. What will happen if the unofficial results show one party slightly ahead of the other? Will there be chaos in the Bahamas? Get this man out before there is major conflict. Can you imagine what would happen if unofficially the FNM gained one seat more then the PLP, but Mr Hall was not ready to call it for a day or two. God help us.
John 7 years, 8 months ago
Not taking sides but looks like it will even be difficult fo steal this Election. It is unusual to see the size crowds the FNM is drawing in Bain and Grants Town, the heart of the PLP strong hold. Everyone including strong PLP supporters are saying 'enough is enough ' and apparently they had enough of Perry Christie and BJ Nottage. If these sentiments translate into votes prepare for a new government 🇧🇸 Bahamas. And a new prime minister. Meanwhile Donald Trump has bombed Syria...
ashley14 7 years, 8 months ago
You impress me. Your always right on top of the news.
John 7 years, 8 months ago
Obviously the PLP are in shock. They never expected Minnis to draw such massive crowds. They never expected to see so many die hard PLPs joining the sea of red. But only Election Day will tell for sure which party will win. And 30 days is a long time to be on the campaign trail. And knowing the nature of the PLP cannot let your guard down. Not even for a minute.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 8 months ago
I agree John ............ but the country is finally SICK, BROKE, & TIRED of the PLP and the lying teefin PLP Cabinet under Perry Christie ......... They were kicked out for 10 years in 1992 ......... they will be kicked out for longer this time
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