PROFESSOR Errol Miller, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) said yesterday that a committee had been established to review the report outlining the facts concerning the two ballot boxes for election day workers for St Mary South East that were discovered last week.

Additionally, the ECJ head said the committee, which will be chaired by Dorothy Pine-McLarty, would make recommendations to “improve and enhance the systems currently in place with respect to the sorting, counting, storage and delivery of the envelopes containing ballots cast by police, military and election day workers”.

The other members of the committee include, Justice Clarence Walker, Tom Tavares-Finson and Linton Walters.

In addition to the committee, Miller said the ECJ would also be seeking legal advice concerning the counting of the two ballot boxes.

He said the commission took these decisions when it met last Wednesday to examine the report concerning the uncounted ballots boxes submitted by Director of Elections Danville Walker.

“The commission recognised that it was the diligent checking by Mr Harry Douglas of the information provided by the Electoral office of Jamaica (EOJ) that led to the discovery of the error at this time,” Miller said in a release.

Douglas, the People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for the closely contested South Eastern St Mary seat had requested a magisterial recount for that constituency following the results of the September 3 election where the Jamaica Labour Party’s Tarn Peralto won by just over 30 votes. The uncounted ballots were not included in the recount, which was completed last Wednesday, however, Peralto retained his seat. The magistrate overseeing the recount indicated that she had no authority to count those ballots since they were not a part of the September 3 elections.

Meanwhile, following the discovery of the uncounted boxes, the Solicitor General gave written permission to the EOJ for the ballots to be counted.

But last Friday Attorney Harold Brady, who is representing Peralto said he would be asking the court to throw out the uncounted ballot boxes in the South East St Mary constituency that were not part of the official vote count last week and declare his client the winner of the seat.

Last Thursday, Brady took out an injunction in the Supreme Court effectively blocking last Friday’s counting of the disputed ballot boxes for seven days until the matter is heard in court Friday.