GECOM is set to pave the way for persons who have not collected their identification cards to vote on elections day provided they take along additional identification, sources at the Commission say.
“There is an order that seems to suggest that will be the decision,” one source told this newspaper.
According to the document, on elections day persons “would be allowed to vote provided your identification is verified by producing any of the following documents…” and it lists a Guyana Birth Certificate, a certificate of registration, a valid Guyana passport, a naturalization certificate or an adoption certificate.
It notes that the names of those persons will remain on the National Register of Registrants.
The commission last week said that over 25,000 persons could be excluded from the voters’ list if they do not uplift their national identification cards, some of which have been sitting uncollected since 2008. This was said to be the decision of Chair, Claudette Singh.
Commissioners have explained that in addition to widespread publication of these names, GECOM also intends to send notices directly to the addresses of record for such persons. If a person is able to contact the commission before the expiration of the 21-day period their names will remain on the OLE.
The move to strike the names from the OLE has been heavily criticized by several political actors including the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) who have highlighted that the ruling in the 1997 Esther Perreira elections petition clearly states that there is no correlation between having an ID Card and voting. That decision was handed down by Justice Singh herself in 2001.
Following last Tuesday’s statutory meeting of GECOM, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj had lamented that even though he and his colleagues disagreed with the decision, the Chairman “is insisting on publishing the names of the persons who have not collected their identification cards”.
He added that during the meeting it became clear “that persons who might have registered as late as last year, or in the last Claims and Objections period before this one, who have not collected their ID cards, [are also] at risk of being removed from the list.”
Government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander confirmed this aspect of the decision explaining that the names which will be published will begin with those who registered in 2008 but will “come forward” with the most recent names being those who registered “last year.”
“We did explore the possibility of in fact dating when the person was registered in the publication but it starts from 2008 and comes forward,” he explained.
When Gunraj was contacted last evening by this newspaper, he said that he was not given any formal notice by the Commission in relation to the uncollected IDs.
The same was said by government Commissioner Charles Corbin.
