When Akliah Segree turned 18 years old in February she dawdled and was not enumerated until July. Now, the Convent of Mercy Academy “Alpha” graduate is bitterly disappointed that she will not be able to vote in the September 3 General Election.

Segree, who wanted to mark her ‘X’ for Julian Robinson, the People’s National Party (PNP) representative in the St Andrew South Eastern constituency, was almost in tears as she spoke to the Jamaica Observer in Nannyville Gardens last Friday.

“Basically I wanted to vote for Julian because he gave me a lot of help while I was in his school. I have grown with a single parent and I really got a lot of help from Julian and I really appreciate it so I wanted to vote to show my appreciation,” she said.

“I didn’t have a father around and he has really been like a father figure to me and I really appreciate that.

“I cannot vote because [I] will not be getting my voter’s ID until December,” added Segree with regret.

She said after leaving Alpha she enrolled in a free course in hospitality organised by Robinson where she was given a stipend and graduated with a certificate.

“And that really changed my perspective on life and gave me a better understanding of how to do things properly,” said the soft-spoken teenager.

“I feel very great to know that Julian actually cares for young persons and actually looks out for us because in my class some of them dropped out of school, so that was a big help for them,” said Segree.

“Mr Robinson is a good MP overall, and I really appreciate his work. He really makes me feel proud to see how he converses with people and it doesn’t matter what age or class they are,” declared Segree.

The Voters’ List published on July 31 is the one being used for the September 3 General Election.

It has the names of 1,913,410 registered electors with an additional 30,293 relative to the November 30, 2019 Voters’ List.

A total of 14,029 names were removed from the list, including 13,192 electors confirmed as dead.

The Voters’ List is published twice per year; on May 31 and November 30 but due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease, the publication of the list scheduled for May 31 was delayed to July 31.

— Arthur Hall