DIRECTOR of Elections Danville Walker has denied that his office has been in discussions with any candidate for the addition of their name to the voters’ list in time for the general elections, due by the end of October.

Walker said he was responding to reports in the press that prospective political candidates or individuals were seeking to negotiate with him, to have their names added to the current voters’ list.

Walker, in a statement yesterday, did not mention the name of any candidate. However, it is believed that the reference was to a statement made by People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for South East St Ann Lisa Hanna.

Hanna, who is not on the voters’ list, told Radio Jamaica’s evening talk show Beyond the Headlines earlier in the week that she would vote in South-East St Ann, where she is the PNP’s candidate, but had to discuss it with Walker.

But in his statement yesterday, Walker made it clear that it was the policy of the Electoral Commission not to change the voters’ list once it has been published.

He added that the Electoral Office of Jamaica, therefore, “is not now in negotiation with anyone, whether a candidate or otherwise, with regards to their names being added to the voters’ list”.

He said that, in the past, his office has conducted house-to-house enumeration, which means that persons have to wait until such registration to get enumerated.

He added, however, that in 1997 continuous registration was introduced, which allowed persons, upon reaching the voting age of 18, to visit their constituency office and apply for registration.

“Once the registration process is completed, which includes residence verification and the cross matching of fingerprints, they are added to the voters’ list. It should be noted that failure to meet the cut-off date does not prevent persons from being added to the list, but their names will appear on the next voters’ list,” Walker said in his statement.

The last voters’ list was published at the end of May, and the next will be published on November 30.