Walker
THE ELECTORAL Advisory Committee (EAC) suggested yesterday that by the end of March all the elements of its preparation for general elections should fall in place.
The EAC said all the elements of its preparations were now in place, except the finalisation of its recruitment drive for election day workers. However, it said that "the calibre and number of persons coming forward gives the assurance that the targeted pool of... workers will be achieved."
Late last year the EAC and the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) launched a recruitment drive for 25,000 volunteers from the business community, civic organisations and tertiary institutions. Recruitment, however, has not been going well, with only about 8,000 persons volunteering so far.
Director of Elections Danville Walker recently told The Gleaner that persons have been staying away because of the perception that elections in Kingston and St. Andrew are violent and crooked.
Against the background of a slow recruitment drive coupled with the fact that training of volunteers had not yet started, Mr. Walker said the EOJ would prefer the election to be held later in the year
"If you put the election in March, it would be a much worse election than you would expect than if you put it in June," Mr. Walker told The Gleaner.
But coming out of the EAC weekly review yesterday it was agreed that everything would be in place by the first quarter of the year to accommodate an election. Other elements of the EOJ's election preparedness are now in place. These include:
A voters list The location of polling stations has been agreed and settled for the next two years The equipment for printing the new voters list which will contain photographs of all electors will be in place by mid March. Legislation, which will allow election day workers to vote prior to election day, is in an advanced stage of preparation. Voting booths and tents to replace any polling stations, which may suffer damage are in order and are expected to arrive before the end of March. All other supplies attendant to the holding of an election are in place. The training of the trainers for the election day workers will be completed by mid-February and the training of election day workers is scheduled to be completed by the end of March.
