Voters need not verify their identity once registered

Voters need not verify their identity once registered – GECOM

Oct 01, 2019 News

The Guyana Elections Commission has issued a new order clarifying its position on the requirements for the claims and objections period, which starts today.
A previous Order made public in the Official Gazette contained the questionable information.

PPP-appointed Commissioner Sase Gunraj

According to that Order persons were required to visit GECOM’s registration offices countrywide with their ID cards to verify their information before they were considered eligible to be placed on the official voter’s list.
The new move meant that 646,625 persons already on the preliminary list needed to appear in person to GECOM offices. Failure to meet the requirement, according to the Order, would mean that the names of those persons would be excluded from the official voter’s list.
The new requirement was met with a public outcry over the weekend. PPP appointed Commissioner Sase Gunraj, who is an attorney, noted that nowhere in National Registration Act is such a requirement mentioned.
Further to that, Gunraj said that the information is erroneous since no such decision was taken at the level of GECOM to implement such a condition to vote.
He stressed that there is no legal basis for such an imposition. Gunraj had suggested that sanctions be brought against the person/persons responsible for putting out the information.
Yesterday, the PPP Commissioner issued a statement via his social media page which revealed that chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM, Justice (rtd) Claudette Singh, has revoked the September 26, 2019 Order.
“I just received a copy of a ‘corrected’ Order from the Chief Elections Officer regarding the upcoming Claims and Objections exercise. I am happy to report that the imposition of the requirement for persons already registered to visit registration offices has been removed.
As it is, no registered person is required to visit any registration office to confirm their registration,” Gunraj said.
According to Gunraj, that meant that persons are no longer required to present themselves along with their ID cards for verification at GECOM offices countrywide no longer applies.