Ballot mix up in disciplined services voting will be corrected during counting process - commissioner

Ballot mix up in disciplined services voting will be corrected during counting process – commissioner

Aug 28, 2025 News

Commissioner of GECOM Vincent Alexander

Kaieteur News – The recent ballot mix-up involving the Disciplined Services’ votes will be rectified during the final ballot counting process following the September 1 General and Regional Elections.

This decision was made during GECOM’s statutory meeting held at its headquarters on Tuesday and was confirmed by Commissioner Vincent Alexander in an interview with Kaieteur News on Wednesday.

The issue came to light earlier in the week when Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud revealed at a press conference that ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Services in Districts Four, Five, and Ten were affected. According to Persaud, the mix-up was discovered during the sorting phase, where ballots are dispatched to predetermined polling stations to be intermixed and counted as ordinary ballots.

Persaud revealed that during the sorting of ballots cast by the disciplined services, two extra ballots were discovered among those assigned to District Four.

Additionally, one ballot each was found missing from Districts Five and Ten. “One issue that emerged during the sorting of the disciplined services ballots – sorting means bringing the ballots cast by Disciplined Forces to a point where we can dispatch them to predetermined polling stations to be intermixed and counted as ordinary ballots. In close to the end of that activity, we ran into a situation where we have two extra ballots in the set of ballots in district four, one short for district five and one short for District 10,” Persaud explained.

He added that recommendations were subsequently submitted to rectify the problem. During Tuesday’s statutory meeting, the issue of the ballot mix-up was discussed in detail, and Commissioner Vincent Alexander elaborated on the resolution. He stated that the discrepancy was believed to be the result of human error.

He clarified that the ballots will only be opened and sorted correctly during the official counting process, and if any are found to be incorrectly assigned, corrective measures will be taken. “They would issue an order that will allow them to have it sent to the right place,” he said.

In addition to the ballot mix-up, GECOM has also addressed the issue of voter dislocation, which could affect individuals during the upcoming elections. According to Alexander, transportation will be provided for voters who are listed at polling stations far from their actual place of residence. This decision was also discussed and agreed upon during the same statutory meeting.

Alexander explained, “GECOM associated this problem with the aborted 2019 registration and agreed that discerned dislocated persons would be advised, and where necessary, transportation provided on E-Day for such persons to attend the wrongly allotted polling station.” He clarified that this measure is particularly aimed at voters who are located outside their correct division, and not those who are listed a short distance away.

“There are many instances where people are listed at the wrong place,” Alexander said. “If GECOM has knowledge of such persons, particularly if they are far away, they would provide transportation to go where they are listed to vote. Some of these people in Georgetown who should vote in Hadfield Street they are listed in Princess Street. Now those people themselves can easily get to their polling station, It is still in the same area. Basically is the people who are far away from where they have to go to vote,” he explained.

GECOM will submit a list of identified dislocated persons and provide them with individual pick-up services from their locations to the correct polling stations. Voters will also be transported back to their homes after casting their ballots.

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