#JaVotes2016:Woman decides to vote after 23 years, still can't vote

By: Admin

Image caption:

Twenty-three years ago Judith Brown set out eager to cast her ballot, when she fell and damaged her knee. From that moment she vowed never to vote again.

Now, at 53-years-old,  Brown had a change of heart and decided to take part in the political process. But again, she was not able to help decide who holds the seat in the battleground constituency of West Rural St Andrew, which is being contested by the incumbent Paul Buchanan of the People's National Party,  and former Olympian Juliet Cuthbert Flynn of the Jamaica Labour Party.

Furious, she explained that the election day workers could not find her information on their lists.

"I didn't get to vote the first time I went to, but now I make up my mind to do it but I cannot vote. Me feel upset over it because I feel it in me to vote again, " she lamented.

Brown, who suffers from multiple ailments,  admitted that her change of heart in deciding to vote came about because she wants to see a change.

"The person who I voting for, I feel that person should get a chance to see if there can be a change in the area," she said, while admitting that she is not sure if her vote would have made a difference.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should vote because I am a very sick person.  I have eight different complaints, and I know if I go to any of them [politician], they won't help me. But I jus want fi see how things would work out. But now I come after how much years and still can't vote, " Brown said.

Among Brown's maladies are a rare disease which caused her to lose her fingers and toes. She also suffers from lupus, seizures,  acid reflux,  and high blood pressure.

Despite not having fingers, and feeling the effects of her multiple ailments, Brown said she still would have been fully capable of marking the ballot.

"I would have marked the X myself because I do everything same way. I wash, cook, clean, everything, " she said.

Disappointed, Brown left the polling station at Stony Hill Primary and Junior High School.