The automated voting system used in the recent University of Guyana Student Council (UGSS) election has been hailed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and observers as “smooth and successful.”
“We (GECOM) were there as observers, I saw it and the system worked…you saw your ballot being counted and there wasn’t anyone who had anything negative to say,” Deputy Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday.
In January of this year, GECOM had said that it was exploring the possibility of embarking on a pilot project in which automatic scanning and tabulation machines could be used in a future election. The system was mulled by the commission out of recognition “of the need to tabulate, certify and announce accurate results of elections in a timelier manner.”
The new technology was made available through a partnership with UG, the government of Canada and The Delian Project, a Canadian-based non-governmental organization.
According to the University of Guyana (UG), the system allows for the casting, tabulation and generation of the statements of poll and is expected to improve the integrity of the vote count, therefore allowing students to have more confidence in the legitimacy of the elections.
This year’s elections which concluded on Saturday, saw about 1500 students voting for one of four candidates vying for the top spot of UGSS president. Faculty representatives will also be determined.
The official results of the elections, which saw the reappearance of the Students’ Empowerment Alliance (SEA), the Students’ Movement Advocating Real Transformation (SMART), and the veteran Revolutionaries with the introduction of newcomers Students United Movement, will be made public tomorrow.
Persaud explained that while electronic tabulation may be viewed as the way for GECOM to go, it was not the commission’s decision to make as this form of voting is not currently permitted under Guyana’s laws. As such, he said, the decision is now up to lawmakers to pass necessary legislation to allow for the system to be introduced here.
“Our elections laws do not allow for electronic tabulation nor results, so whether we want or not …legislative changes would be necessary. The commission is open and will always be willing to implement or to use any facility that would contribute to improving the system. We would always welcome that…but it’s not the commission, we can only be guided and are constrained by the existing laws,” Persaud said.
“It would be up to those in power to bring this new system in place to empower GECOM to use electronic tabulation, electronic transmission of votes. Until that is done we will still be doing things the traditional way,” he added.
Persaud said too that for a system like this to be used nationwide, it would require “a heck of a lot” of voter education.
Another observer, who requested anonymity, pointed out that during the voting at UG there was a power outage but voting continued because the machines had a battery backup system in place. However, he said, that a setback with the power outage was that the voter had to cast his ballot in semi-darkness as the lighting available was dim.
He added that persons complimented the use of the system because they were able to see the machine accepting their votes.
In February of this year the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Canadian High Commissioner Dr Nicole Giles and Chairman of Gecom Dr Steve Surujbally had met and discussed the possibilities of using an Automatic Ballot Scan and Tabulation Voting System in local and national elections.
“The use of such a system could enhance the accuracy of vote counts and speed up the delivery of election results,” the PSC said in a press release at the time. The PSC said it was heartened by the information presented and looks forward to the results of a preliminary assessment of the system by GECOM, should the proposed project find acceptance from key stakeholders.
According to the high commissioner, about 60 paper-based, automatic ballot scan and tabulation machines would be donated to Guyana by the Delian project, an independent non-profit organization registered in Canada and the USA.
Each machine handles over 1,000 votes per day. These systems, while speeding up the tabulation process, also provide for paper ballots which could be manually tabulated in the event of the need for a recount.
The PSC asserts that such systems could be valuable to Guyana where the current methods associated with the tabulation and the transmission of votes tend to impede the official declaration of results.
