Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
REVERIFICATION OF voters who failed to meet the March 31 deadline got off to a slow start at some constituency offices of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) yesterday.
The EOJ commenced a special hearing for those voters yesterday and the sitting will end tomorrow.
"Things have been going pretty slow. We had anticipated a faster turnout rate," said Eric Malcolm, returning officer for St. Andrew, East Rural.
When The Gleaner visited the office about 2:30 p.m., Mr. Malcolm revealed that only 12 persons had turned out to reverify. He said they were mostly the ones who were summoned to visit the office to confirm that they were still living in the constituency.
But Shirley Prendegast, who resides in East Rural St. Andrew, was not amused that she had to confirm her address and other demographic data by using the Bible to take an oath.
"I don't see why I should be swearing on the Bible. I am not in court," she told The Gleaner.
Vernon Duncan, assistant returning officer for St. Andrew South Eastern, said things got off to a smooth start. He said his office managed to reverify about 16 persons, two of whom had registered twice. He noted that the fingerprint system was able to identify that and the problems were rectified.
