Slow but peaceful voting in St. Andrew

BY LUKE DOUGLAS Observer senior reporter douglasl@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, December 31, 2011

A slow electronic identification system marred an otherwise relatively uneventful election day in South East and North East St Andrew on Thursday, two seats traditionally torn by political violence.

Voters reportedly waited for up to four hours to cast their vote at some polling divisions using the Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System (EVIBIS) in South East St Andrew, testing their patience and eliciting suggestions of sabotage from both major political parties.

But despite the delays, longtime election workers said it was the most peaceful poll they had experienced in areas such as Grant’s Pen, Backbush and Jacques Road.

“Dis a de quietest, most peaceful election mi ever see, especially in Grants’ Pen. Even in 2007, Jesus Christ, we almost have war bruk out inna de polling station,” reminisced Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) cluster manager Yvonne Shields.

Shields and her colleagues, as well as outdoor agents from the People’s National Party (PNP), quietly assisted voters outside the Edna Manley Health Centre on Grants’ Pen Road, while heavily armed police personnel looked on.

She also commended the police for doing an excellent job of keeping the peace.

At the New Testament Church of God at 81b Mountain View Avenue, Collie Allen, a veteran JLP organiser, said the election was very peaceful but the process was slow.

“This was an area which was torn by violence. Some people returned just to vote. Some people who came out early have left in anger and have not returned. The process was long, hard and slow but the camaraderie was good,” he said.

The situation was similar at Mico Practicing School, the National Stadium and King’s Gate United Church — slow voting and disgruntled voters.

“Why Jamaicans must make everything so difficult?” asked a female voter who said she waited for two-and-a-half

hours to vote at King’s Gate.

Earlier tensions rose among scores of waiting voters at polling clusters in Nannyville, PNP stronghold, and some left without voting.

Director of Elections Orett Fisher met with PNP candidate Julian Robinson and other party officials in an effort to reassure voters that they would be able to cast their ballots.

“The problem is you have some people waiting for a very long time, some as long as two hours. They (election officials) are saying the system has not malfunctioned; it is just working very slow,” Robinson told the Observer.

Political ombudsman Rev Herro Blair, who was on hand, defended the electronic voting system, saying it took about three minutes to cast each vote. He said the high turnout of electors had created a backlog of persons waiting their turn to vote.

“Because you have so many people out (to vote) you have so many people waiting. When we checked some PDs more than 50 per cent of the people have already voted. All the machines are all working so it is a matter of people being patient,” Rev Blair said shortly after midday.

This did not stop voters from accusing the system of sabotaging the PNP in its effort to retain the seat previously held by Maxine Henry-Wilson.

Earlier at the JLP stronghold at Jarrett Lane, voters said two out of five electronic machines were not working and said the system was rigged for the JLP to lose the seat.

At Sandhurst Early Childhood Centre on Barbican Road, candidate for the National Democratic Movement (NDM) in North East St Andrew Terence Lindo came by himself to cast his vote.

“I’m confident; I have been driving up and down and it’s been peaceful,” he told the Observer.

Lindo said the NDM would continue to exist regardless of its showing at the polls.

“If by the slim chance I am not successful I definitely will be coming back to run as councillor in the Waterloo division. We definitely will not be going away. The PNP took 17 years to win an election, and the NDM is 16 years old,” he said.

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COMMENTS (2)

Kwame Gordon-Martin
12/31/2011

@Nicholas- the change is already here, you are simply not paying attention. History has been made with the most peaceful elections in more than 30 years, one term gvernment, most fair elections to date. The people must be congratulated for their efforts even if the outcome is not to their liking in some quarters. As for being poor for generations, the two people running for PM demonstrate that progress, however slow, has occurred. Poverty will never leave us or any country, period. Its the level

Nicolas Henry
12/31/2011

Sad state of affair, when a country celebrates when a election has minimal or no violence. People killing people over people who ultimately will do nothing for them. Jamaicans and Jamaica will be the same under JLP or PNP. The change in the country must come from the people. Many of them need to access their own life style to end their own poverty. They must look into themselves that them being poor, is within their family through every generation, & through every govt.

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Slow but peaceful voting in St. Andrew