By Sue-Ann Wayow
A VOTER in the Debe South bye-election gets two polling cards for people who do not reside at his address.
And the Elections and Boundary Commission (EBC) stated that this was not a major issue.
Hemant Mahabir, 39, of Cuchawan Trace West Debe, said he received in his mailbox two polling cards with names of persons he did not know.
The names on the polling cards from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) are Droopatie Mahadeo and Champa Tagiwatee Maharaj.
On Friday, Mahabir told AZPNews.com, “I got these cards when I checked my mailbox a few days ago and I don’t know who these people are. I have been living here my whole life. I don’t know what to do about it.”
He contacted the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) candidate Lorenzo Rodney Sammy whose campaign team reached out to AZPNews.com.
Mahabir said the issue of wrong cards going to homes showed there could be a mix up and this would mean persons may not be allowed to vote in the upcoming election.
EBC’s chief election officer Fern Narcis-Scope said people in the electoral district of Debe South who did not receive polling cards to vote in Monday’s bye-election, should not worry as long as their names are on the revised electoral list.
Contacted by AZPNews.com on Friday, she said there was no major issue if a polling card was wrongly dropped off.
Narcis-Scope said, “You don’t need a polling card to vote. If you do not have one, they will simply make out one for you at the polling station.”
He said at the last election, both he and his mother did not vote because their names were not on the voting list. However, this time, he said, all his family members’ names were on the list.
Mahabir is hoping that if there was a problem or mix-up that it would be rectified before the February 7 bye-election.
Three persons have filed nominations for the bye-election.
The EBC stated via a media release on January 23 that the People’s National Movement (PNM), the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) and the United National Congress (UNC) were the only political parties fielding candidates and there will be no independent candidates.
Sammy is representing the PEP, Khemraj Sunil Seecharan is the UNC’s choice and the PNM has selected Judy Sookdeo as their candidate.
The EBC stated that the electorate for the upcoming bye-election is 7,124.
Persons in state quarantine due to Covid-19 could have applied to be listed as a special elector and that application process ended on January 17.
The EBC has stated that the revised list of electors was placed in the exact two locations where the preliminary lists were posted at the polling divisions.
Narcis-Scope added that persons can check the revised list posted for confirmation of their eligibility to vote.
She also said she was unaware of any reasons for the wrong distribution of polling cards.
The chief election said that people receiving polling cards that were not theirs should return them to the EBC’s Penal/Debe sub-office.
When told of Narcis-Scope’s response to AZPNews.com, Mahabir breathed a sigh of relief and said he would be dropping off the wrong cards at the Penal/Debe EBC’s office on Monday.
