The Tribune

VOTING was suspended in polling divisions of the Elizabeth and Seabreeze constituencies yesterday morning after concerns were raised about ballots.

In Elizabeth, voting in polling division 11 stopped for a more than two hours after candidates claimed that 144 unused ballots from the advanced poll were “missing”.

There were also allegations that the division’s ballot box had been “unsealed”.

A statement issued by Acting Parliamentary Commissioner Charles Albury yesterday stressed that in spite of these concerns, “no irregularities were discovered in the electoral process” in these two areas.

Progressive Liberal Party Trustee and National Coordinator Valentine Grimes also dismissed the concerns in Elizabeth as “irrelevant” and “irresponsible,” adding that unused ballots from the early vote are never used in the general election.

In Seabreeze, there were reports that some people mistakenly voted on ballots from the Nassau Village constituency which were sent to the wrong area. This prompted a voting suspension in one polling division for around two hours.

There were also reported difficulties at the St Anne’s voting stations.

As a result of the hiccups, voting in Elizabeth and Seabreeze was extended.

Yesterday morning, Free National Movement Elizabeth candidate Dr Duane Sands raised alarm about the “missing” ballots, which he said could be a threat to the country’s electoral process. He spoke to The Tribune shortly after voting resumed in polling division 11.

“This is about safeguarding our democracy and something as serious as this cannot be allowed to go unresolved. These are ballots that could potentially be used in any one of these polling divisions,” Dr Sands claimed. “This is deeply concerning and distressing.

“People have been waiting patiently for over two hours and 15 minutes, a decision has been made notwithstanding the irregularities which have not been resolved to continue with the voting,” Dr Sands said.

“There are challenges with the existing ballots, some of them have the returning officer’s signatures in red ink as opposed to green ink.

“The number of ballots cast do not match up to what was expected and there are still 144 unused ballots that are missing,” he claimed.

“Despite that, we will proceed. It appears as if this poll and perhaps this entire electoral process will come under scrutiny, however, people have been waiting patiently in the sun and a decision has been made, not by us but by the parliamentary commissioner’s office, to proceed with the election, despite the acknowledged challenges.

DNA Elizabeth candidate Prodesta Moore also expressed similar worries yesterday morning.

“We had a suspension of polling division 11, this is the room where the advanced poll ballots were counted in. The delay was that the count was incorrect, we recounted them, we asked for a suspension of the polling division,” she said.

“We have 144 unused ballots that were attached to the box, (that are) missing. The box was open, unsealed, the envelopes were open, it was tampered with and we have no account for 144 unused ballots,” she claimed. “We’re concerned that those 144 unused ballots are floating around somewhere.”

‘Irresponsible’

However, when approached about the claims, Mr Grimes accused the FNM of being inflammatory and spreading misinformation.

“Apparently the FNM made an issue about the absence of unused ballots - 144 unused ballots,” Mr Grimes told The Tribune at the Thelma Gibson Primary School. “It’s irrelevant. The unused ballots are not supposed to be in this poll and so the fact that they are absent is nothing new.

“There is no poll where the unused ballots from the advanced poll are here, the fact that they are trying to be irresponsible and make something to do about nothing - in my mind I don’t understand why they would do it.”

He dismissed concerns that the unused ballots could be circulated and used in other polling divisions.

“No they can’t,” Mr Grimes said. “At the end of the day, again this is the irresponsible way that they go about things. At the beginning of the poll all the ballots are counted, white ballots are counted, as in there, where there were 425 white ballots, coloured ballots are counted in there, where there are 75 coloured ballots, all those ballots have to be accounted for.

“The ballots are counted in the beginning, a form is issued to agents, and at the end of the day a form is issued to agents which accounts for all the ballots. So the question about ballots out there is irrelevant and irresponsible.”

Alex Storr, the PLP’s Elizabeth candidate, also acknowledged the ballot issue. “When the ballot boxes from the advanced poll were opened this morning, after the initial count in front of the agents it seemed that it was one short,” Mr Storr said. “After recounting a few minutes later, the count is the count that was given at the advanced poll. But there is still the issue of the unused ballots from the advanced poll were placed on top of the box, taped up and sealed, and those are (now) missing, so we’re trying to determine where are those. It seems that the count has normalised. . . it’s just the unused ballots we’re trying to locate.”

Other issues

In Seabreeze, FNM candidate for the area Lanisha Rolle told The Tribune that somehow ballots from Nassau Village ended up in that constituency instead.

“At polling division four, there was a ballot book and the cover of the ballot book the title was Seabreeze but in the ballot book there were ballots for Nassau Village,” Mrs Rolle said. “At that point in time 13 people had voted and we stopped the process. The Free National Movement was alerted and we realised that one of the voters brought it to our attention. He saw other people’s names, not Lanisha Rolle. The returning officer was called and he dealt with it. The 13 persons that voted have been contacted and asked to come back because otherwise their votes won’t be counted. Voting resumed ten minutes to 11am. The delay was about an hour.”

In St Anne’s, FNM candidate Brent Symonette said there were issues in that constituency as well.

“When we opened the boxes for the advanced poll, having been told the contents would be in polling division number eight, it turned out to be in number five. They were then walked to number eight out of the box, though in the hands of the polling officials; they were loose. We had to recount all of those and put them back in the box. But the more important thing is the unused ballots are still not found. One hundred and twenty one of them unaccounted for. (If not resolved) we would potentially take the matter to the Election Court.”

St Anne’s PLP legal counsel Clement Maynard said: “The ballots voted on in the advanced poll are fully accounted for and signed off by all sides. What he is speaking about are the ballot books, the remainder that were unused were not together with all of the ballots. It’s not an issue as far as we are concerned because the official tally was taken at the advanced polls which outlined all of the ballots that will be ,used; it outlined the counterfoil numbers, etc, so it’s very easy at the end of the day whenever they appear to resolve what was left behind. “Certainly everything that was used and voted upon, the number that was gotten at the end of the advanced poll correlates with the number that was counted at the end of the advanced poll.”

On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Registration Department released a statement about the confusion.

Acting Parliamentary Commissioner Charles Albury acknowledged that voting was suspended in Elizabeth and Seabreeze “due to some technical problems related to a few ballots.”

“Voting had to be suspended to allow for these issues to be resolved,” a statement from Mr Albury noted.

Mr Albury extended voting hours in the Elizabeth Constituency until 6.15pm, with the exception of polling division 11, which was extended until 8.15pm.

In the Seabreeze constituency voting in polling division four was extended for an additional two hours until 8pm, the statement noted.

“The parliamentary commissioner wishes to stress that no irregularities were discovered in the electoral process in both of the constituencies mentioned,” the statement noted.

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