GECOM and International observers must

Feb 16, 2020 Letters

address attempts of alleged voter suppression

Dear Editor

I wish to bring to the attention of the Guyanese electorate and GECOM that there appears to be a series of calculated efforts to deny certain Guyanese opportunities to vote on March 2, 2020. This allegation should be a major cause of concern for GECOM, International Election Observers and voters.
In the history of Guyanese election campaigns, I have never seen this level of fake news, misinformation, sponsored and unsponsored social media pages and online news media platforms, platforms ultimately aimed at suppressing the votes of groups of Guyanese who they perceive as supporters and members of their principal opponent(s). Some of these pages and online news platforms are secretly working as political agents spreading propaganda to discredit their perceived opponents, while others are openly working to do same.
What do they all have in common? Voter suppression! Voter suppression, put simply, refers to attempts by political parties, agents and various types of institutions to deny persons and certain categories of persons, opportunities to vote. Voter suppression also attempts to reduce the number of voters who might vote against a candidate or proposition. This happens in many forms, which include attempts by political agents and even employees of public and private agencies to physically intimidate and/or attack voters, reduce opportunities to vote i.e. make it harder for certain people to vote and hacking voter databases and voting systems.
In the lead up to the 2015 elections in the USA, Donald Trump and the Republican Party engaged Republican Governors and Senators to institute legislative amendments, which made it more difficult for African Americans and other minority groups to vote. Similar efforts were recorded and reported in several months before the mid-term elections in the USA. One of the companies hired by the Campaign Team of Donald Trump was Mercury Public Affairs, the same company hired by the PPP, to engage in crafting and disseminating fake news and messages via sponsored and unsponsored online media outlets and social media pages. What did all these efforts have in common? Voter suppression! More specifically, discouraging minority groups from voting for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party in particular who represented the greatest threat to Donald Trump. Some of the measures employed to deny and discourage voting included, the relocation of polling stations making it more difficult for voters to reach them, passing voter suppression legislation that made it more difficult for minority groups to meet voter requirements and prove their eligibility and attempts to delegitimise eligible votes cast by claiming the persons who voted should not have because they were ineligible in the first place.
I can bet you that the vast majority of Americans regret voting for Donald Trump, given the global ridicule and domestic problems his residency has caused.
Will we in Guyana end up in the same dangerous situation?
Sincerely
Andrew Small

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