Dear Editor,
Many times I have wondered why some people are put in senior positions and earn such huge salaries. It was revelatory and more astounding in this regard when I went to cast my vote on Elections Day 2020. High school children of merit could have organised and conducted it better. At least, at my polling station. An event as monumental as this deserved more attention to detail. What is to stop the chaos that I witnessed and was involved in there, from recurring on the next occasion, if governments continue to say that the Guyana Elections Commission is an autonomous body and they cannot be held accountable for their modus operandi?
As I entered the gate on this auspicious occasion, people were milling around the yard and in parts of the building and through some groups I was able to see citizens rifling through the List of Electors. I saw the possibility of those lists being destroyed or damaged. Voters should not have had access to the List of Electors on Elections Day. There was ample time before then, as the lists had been at the polling station weeks before. As many voters were left to fend for themselves in regard to the procedure, they joined any line after seeing their name on the list and upon getting to the head of the line, were told that they were in the wrong line. Frustration, grumbling and expletives ensued. Voters should have been relegated to a line outside of the gate, gained access inside individually after being accounted for on one of the lists by a member of staff of the Elections Commission, then advised of their destination.
I hope this imbroglio does not seep into the gathering and tabulating of the votes and that more responsibility will be shown by the Elections Commission on Elections Day in the future. I commend the pleasant conduct of the Elections Commission staff although some of them were visibly under pressure as they combed through the lists and tried to carry out their tasks.
Yours faithfully,
Conrad Barrow
