KINGSTON, Jamaica — Days after accusing the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) of being disingenuous about his reasons for quitting, former director of elections, Orrette Fisher has himself released the resignation letter which he submitted to the commission on March 14.

In the letter, he pointed out areas of grave concern, which he said have not been addressed and eventually led to him walking away.

Fisher also released copies of letters written to the Commission on November 3, 2015, and May 2, 2016 detailing his concerns about – among other things – the safety of the staff of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) in the November 2016 Local Government elections, and the “hostile” behaviour of one member of the Commission towards staff.

Among the matters  he raised in a November 2015 letter to the commission upon his one-year reappointment to the post after completing an initial seven years, was a political representative on the panel “seeking to influence” where the Electronic Voter Identification System (EVIS) should be used.

Fisher also complained in the letter addressed to Chairman of the Commission, Dorothy Pine-McLarthy about requests by political representatives for photographs and elector registration numbers to be made available to the political parties.

“I have always objected to the requests and restate now, my continued objection as not only would the issuing of photographs and elector registration numbers be in contravention of the law, but would in addition undoubtedly undermine the integrity of the entire process and could possibly lead to massive voter personation and the production of fraudulent elector registration cars,” the former director stated.

In another letter dated May 16, he quoted troubling remarks made to him by one member of the Commission over nomination day activities, and which the former director said was originally captured in the minutes of a February 2016 meeting, but was removed when the minutes were “amended”.

The tension between Fisher and the remaining seven members of the commission were renewed earlier this week when he clapped back at the ECJ after it published a statement intimating that the former elections boss had made allegations about political interference in the operations of the Electoral Office of Jamaica.

Fisher insisted that what he had spoken about to three independent members of the commission after his resignation were concerns of “growing political influence”, not political interference.

After 10 years on the job, Fisher quit amidst a court case which he brought against the ECJ last October, a day before his second one-year contract expired.

Fisher, represented by attorney at law Hugh Wildman, was contesting the validity of his one-year appointment and seeking to hold on to his job.

This week, he said he had opted to resign before that judgement was handed down, as he did not wish to be in the post based on a court order.

Alphea Saunders