Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
Thousands risk removal from GECOM list for failure to uplift IDs
By Kemol King
Thousands of eligible voters could have their names omitted from the Official List of Electors (OLE) if they don’t claim their national identification cards from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Justice Claudette Singh
This is because GECOM Chair, (ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh S.C., made a decision yesterday to follow a process laid out in the National Registration Act, for the cancellation of registrants.
According to Commissioner Sase Gunraj, the last count he checked placed the number of persons at risk of having their names removed in excess of 25,000.
Commissioner Charles Corbin said yesterday that the process will include publishing a list of the names, likely in newspapers, allowing those persons to claim their identities. If they fail to do so, their names will not be included on the Revised List of Electors (RLE) and, consequently, the OLE, indicated Corbin. He also said that the 21-day process will involve sending notices to the registrants’ addresses.
He was keen to note that, if persons fail to claim their identity, though their names will not be on the RLE, their names will not be removed from the National Register of Registrants (NRR).
However, they will miss the opportunity to vote in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Gunraj has taken issue with the decision made by the GECOM Chair. He has suggested that it is unlawful to impose an additional requirement on voters,
Commissioner Charles Corbin
He has also queried the publication of the House-to-House data and the manner in which that data will be treated. GECOM had recently placed copies of the House-to-House data on lists at registration offices serving the persons who had been registered during the truncated exercise. Late last night, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) released a statement demanding that GECOM withdraw the House-to-House lists and continue only with the Claims and Objections exercise, because of the same issues raised by Gunraj.
But Corbin and GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, both indicated that GECOM has already sorted out how the data will be used; that objections will be considered as any objection is considered during a Claims and Objections period. Additionally, Corbin said that, at the end of this exercise, the House-to-House data will be used as a verification tool for registrants on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE), and that any objections made to the data will be reflected in the Revised List of Electors (RLE).
Commissioner Sase Gunraj
Gunraj told reporters yesterday that his objection to this matter is that there is no legal basis for the data to be used in this way.
He had asked Justice Claudette Singh why the data was published in the first place, and she reportedly said that she had made that decision to have it published a while back, and that she would stick to that decision.
The GECOM Chair also yesterday made a decision that persons who didn’t verify their identities during the claims and objections exercise would not have their names flagged or highlighted on the RLE.
Giving an update on the Claims and Objections transactions as of October 28 last, Ward notified reporters that there have been a total of 17,243 of them thus far. This total is constituted by 3,924 new registrations, 9,516 transfers, 1,672 changes/corrections, 1,627 replacements, 472 photo retakes and 32 objections.
Gunraj and Corbin also notified reporters yesterday that GECOM met with a team from the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), and that there will be a joint statement detailing the lines of partnership at a later date.
Additionally, Justice Singh is expected to host a press conference next week Friday, to speak on issues related to GECOM’s preparations for elections.
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