MANDEVILLE, Manchester — There was no visible breach of COVID-19 safety guidelines as members of the security forces and election day workers waited in lines yesterday to cast their ballots ahead of Thursday’s general election.

Head of the Manchester police Superintendent Gary Francis told the Jamaica Observer that police officers had been deployed to 21 polling stations across the parish.

“There are 21 polling stations that we have in the parish and all of them have been manned… as far as I know the stations [were] staffed by police officers. There was nothing unusual reported to us. Things are well in the Manchester Division,” he said.

At the close of the polls yesterday, the returning officers for three of the four constituencies in the parish indicated that there were no problems.

“Everything went well. It was slow, but it went well,” returning officer for Manchester Southern Wesley Baker said.

Over in Manchester Central and North Western there was reportedly a steady turnout of election day workers at polling stations.

When the Observer visited Mandeville Police Station, cops were lining up to enter three polling stations there.

It was a similar view at the Jamaica Defence Force’s Foster Barracks on Manchester Road.

Election day workers were seen observing physical distancing and wearing masks at Mandeville Parish Church and Cedar Grove Seventh-day Adventist Church.