#JaVotes2020 | Complaints of slow voting from electors

By: Admin

Image caption: Electors have complained about the slow voting process, which they say is due to the Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System.

There were complaints from some electors in the Corporate Area of slow voting.

Alfred Thomas, who cast his ballot at Jamaica College in St. Andrew, spoke with Radio Jamaica News about his experience.

He said the delay was caused by the Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System. 

"Some of the lines are pretty long but the problem is that because we are using the electronic voting system, there are many persons who are in the line now. My PD, number 15, has a short line, so I went through in about 15 minutes but there are persons there who have been standing in the line now for at least 45 minutes," he said.  

Another elector, Annatol Clarke, who voted at the United Theological College in St. Andrew said she was unaware that the Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System would be used. 

"When I got there, what was advertised on TV, which is to say that your voter registration is valid up to 2020, however, if you do not have that and you produce an ID, you are finger printed and you can vote; When I went this morning, I was instead faced by electronic voting and finger printing. No ID or voter registration card was required," she explained. 

Social distancing concern 

Meanwhile, an elector who accompanied his elderly father to the polling station at Annotto Bay High School, said there was no social distancing.

"When I went inside the compound, there was two line and a five feet wide corridor with a rail side by side, no social distance being observed and there was a police at the head of the line. I speak to the police and say this is not the protocol - protocol is not being observed and I don't see anything happen. So I took my father and I left the polling station," he reported.  

He said while there was not a large number of people present at the location at the time, the people who were there were all gathered at one place without physical distancing.