Norton throws support behind biometric system to end voter’s impersonation

Sep 01, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Leader of Opposition, Aubrey Norton has expressed support for the implementation of the biometric system at the level of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as part of efforts to remove the possibility of persons voting in the names of the dead, migrants and other absent persons.

Leader of the Opposition, George Norton.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Norton said that he has seen the willingness of citizens to see such reforms at the level of GECOM. He spoke of an instance when the system was used by the Commission. “…For the 2006 Regional and General Elections, GECOM introduced fingerprint biometrics when it commissioned the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) to conduct a fingerprint scanning and cross-matching exercise to detect multiple registration,” Norton said.

He noted that, “These and other examples prove that the country has shown a willingness to undertake major electoral reforms when political and civil society stakeholders have deemed them necessary to deliver elections of acceptable standards. And these reforms have been of several types: constitutional, statutory, administrative/operational, and technological.”

According to Norton, Guyana has reached another critical juncture for further electoral reforms. “Foremost among these reforms are the need for a clean voters’ list and the use of biometrics at the place of polling,” he said.

However, the Opposition Leader said that that the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) remains the sole source of resistance to these reforms. As such, he said that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC ) stands ready to discuss and support the necessary constitutional and other amendments to ensure a clean voters’ list as a necessary condition to ensure that the next elections are free, fair, and credible. Norton ‘s views are being expressed weeks after opposition- nominated Guyana Elections Commissioner (GECOM), Vincent Alexander put forward a motion to commission for the use of biometric system to improve the voting procedures associated with elections.

The Opposition representative suggested technology as a method to ensure that all persons who cast a ballot during elections do not do so in the name of deceased persons, migrants and other absent individuals.

Alexander told Kaieteur News that the mechanism will be part of the suggestions being offered in relation to the election law reform. “Our proposal was not on the substance. It was more on the procedure, but I am pushing the biometric idea,” the Commissioner told the newspaper. The biometric system is a type of technology, which uses a person’s organic information such as fingerprint or retina to identify them. Alexander explained that this mechanism would allow therefore that, “only the real person would be allowed in [the polling station to vote].”

The issue of dead persons being on the voters’ list has existed for a number of years now. The Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), has argued strongly that the voter’s list is bloated with the names of deceased persons as those names remained on the National Register of Registrants. This situation, they maintain, has caused irregularities, for instance, at the 2020 General Elections where persons have accessed identification cards and voted in the name of the dead and other absent persons.

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