Dear Editor,
Former President Jagdeo is right in `Jagdeo calls on GECOM Chair to explain ‘patently illegal’ decision on uncollected ID cards’ (SN Oct 31).
A voter or a national ID card is not required to cast ballots or to have one’s name placed on a voters’ list. Every constitutional legal mind I spoke with agrees with this interpretation of relevant law on voting in Guyana. The Chief Justice made a similar ruling earlier this year. The court also consistently took this position in elections. In fact, it was also the position of then Judge Claudette Singh in 1998 in the Esther Perreira case that an ID is not required to vote; she proceeded to vitiate the December 1997 elections because of the mandatory use of voter ID cards to cast ballots that was agreed upon by both the PPP and PNC. The PNC subsequently challenged the use of ID cards to vote. The same was and is being done in the US where Black voters have challenged elections commissions in “white” states seeking to disenfranchise them. As in Guyana, in the US, ID cards are not required to cast ballots – signatures are verified before casting a ballot. In Guyana, one’s photo appear on the voters’ list eliminating need for a photo ID.
Legal experts say that no one should be removed from the voters’ list on account of their not having picked up their national ID. Gecom is on shaky ground and could be violating voters’ rights in mandating they pick up their national ID cards or else their names will be removed from the voters’ list. In the US, in a few states, attempts were made to require voters to present an ID card in order to register and to vote in order to disenfranchise minorities like Blacks and Hispanics. But the US court ruled against the requirement enfranchising Blacks and other minorities.
There are some 25K national ID cards sitting at Gecom’s office. Some of these go back to almost two decades. It is conceivable that a substantial portion of these ID cards are of deceased and those who migrated permanently. The dead and those who have settled abroad should be removed from the list. The list should be cleaned up. But a fair, legal way should be found to carry out the process so as not to disenfranchise those who have traveled abroad for vacation or are seasonal overseas workers.
It is surprising that Justice Singh would support a position that would violate voters’ rights. Many may not know or simply forgot that they have an ID card at the Gecom office. Gecom plans to publish the list of names in the papers. Those who did not pick up their IDs may not read the papers and thus would not find out that their name is on such a published list. The list of those who have not uplifted their ID cards should be published and also made accessible to the political parties and NGOs by region and or by address or some other ‘reasonable way’ so that the individuals can be notified. That is a fairer way to clean up the list or notify the delinquent who did not pick up IDs. Any legal challenge to Gecom’s requirement of picking up ID cards or having your name removed would succeed in a court of law.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram
