GLITCHES with the ballot system added to a low voter turnout as residents of Portmore, St Catherine, elected representatives in Monday’s local government elections.

In the municipality which is the only one in the country where the mayor is directly elected, two ballots are to be presented — one for the mayor and one for the councillor. However, there were complaints that only one ballot was presented or people were being given the option if they wanted both.

Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Eastern Robert Miller told the Jamaica Observer that there were complaints about the ballot system throughout his constituency.

He said he received reports that presiding officers from Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) were explaining to people they have two ballots — one for the mayor and one for the councillor — “and if they so desire, to vote for both”.

“I believe this is a wrong approach… I believe that persons should get both ballots and let them decide. Explain to them that they are voting for two persons, yes, but don’t ask if they want it. Ensure that they get both ballots and they decide whether they want to vote, or spoil the ballots, or whatever — but everybody has a right to vote,” he said after casting his vote at Cumberland High School, which went smoothly.

Miller also shared that the mother of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor candidate for the Westchester Division, Tsahai Rose, experienced an issue with the ballot system.

He said that she went to vote at her polling division and got two ballots, brought back both ballots to the presiding officer, and “they put one in the box and had one under a book”.

“The mother said, ‘I gave you two ballots, where’s the other one?’ They were giving her the ink to dip her finger. She said, ‘Where is the other ballot to put in the other box because I gave you two,’ and she [was told]: ‘Oh, it’s under the book,’ and [the presiding officer] took it out from under the book,” he said.

“If someone is not au fait with what is happening with the electoral process, that will go unanswered,” he further argued.

People’s National Party mayoral candidate Leon Thomas corroborated reports of presiding officers telling people when they went in to vote that they had a choice between the mayor or the councillor ballot.

“I don’t think that is supposed to be done. I think that they should offer them both ballots and let the people decide and mark for who they want to mark for. Yes, the two ballots are there; give the two ballots, let them decide on that part of it,” he insisted.

Thomas also pointed out that there were issues at the Police Training Centre in Twickenham Park, St Catherine, where up to a certain point in the morning there was no mayoral ballot at the facility so officers who turned up did not get the opportunity to vote for their mayoral candidate during that period.

In the meantime Thomas told reporters — after casting his vote at Greater Portmore High School which went quickly and without a glitch — that the process overall was sluggish.

“I’ve seen a lot of people turning out. The line was very long but the process is very slow. If the process could be a little faster then I think that we will have more people, because some of the people turn up but because of the line, some of them turn back and saying that they’re coming in the afternoon,” he said.

He, however, theorised that one of the reasons for the slow process could have been that the presiding officers were making certain to tear the ballots properly “because they don’t want to damage any ballot. So, they are taking their time”.

Jamaica Labour Party mayoral candidate Markland Edwards, who voted at Braeton Primary and Infant School and who was observed at various polling stations throughout the municipality, gave his theory as to why people were not offered two ballots:

“I guess because we haven’t had a local government election for a while and they weren’t aware that [people] are not just voting for the councillor, they are also voting for a mayor… And that is something that we’re going to be looking at because other parishes want to do the same, and with Portmore being the 15th parish in short order we’re going to be implementing some plans to make Portmore really the mecca — not just of Jamaica but of the Caribbean,” he said.