Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers rushed to the White Marl All-Age School yesterday afternoon when a group of men from the area, whom the soldiers felt were armed, entered the premises.

However, by the time the two jeep loads of soldiers drove in the men had melted into the crowd of orange-shirted women who defended their presence.

PNP councillor candidate for the area, Norman Scott, was summoned by the crowd and a stand-off evolved. But the women kept hurling abuse at the soldiers, asking them:, “A wha? A Bruce sen’ oonu?”

The premises was full of persons sporting orange, most of whom stayed behind after polling their votes, and before the soldiers arrived the only visible security presence was that of a “one-day” police. The soldiers appealed to persons who had voted to leave the premises and reduce the crowd, but they refused. The soldiers eventually left.

The White Marl School is in the ‘Sufferer’s Heights’ area of South Central St Catherine, a PNP stronghold represented by Scott.

A few kilometres away, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters in their colours dominated voting at the Jose Marti Technical High School.

Their candidate, Donovan ‘Floppy’ Guy, raised concerns with the EOJ staff about some of his supporters not finding their names on the list for the polling station where they had voted during the September 3 general elections.

Otherwise, Spanish Town was unusually quiet throughout the day. EOJ workers and the police tried to find other things to occupy their minds as voters slowly trickled through the system.

“I wish it would be like this all the time. Today is wonderful,” an unidentified policeman at the Ensom City Primary School said after yawning himself out of a brief nap.

“It is the lowest I have ever seen,” one outdoor agents’ supervisor for the JLP commented.

At the Homestead Primary School on Old Harbour Road, JLP supporters volunteered the result hours before the poll closed. At the Eltham High School, up to 1:00 pm, less than five per cent of the voters had voted.

Outdoor agents for both parties lamented the slow and low poll and expressed the hope that it would have picked up by 5:00 pm. But they generally felt that most people wouldn’t bother with voting after returning home from work.