GECOM adding two recount work stations
-deadline unlikely to be met as only 27% of ballot boxes completed
At the end of more than half of the 25 days assigned to the National Recount, the Guyana Elections Commission has completed the processing of 642 ballot boxes, a mere 27% of the 2,339 boxes from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE).
Additionally, after a four-day wait the National COVID-19 Taskforce has granted the Commission permission to establish two of six additional workstations requested.
Speaking with the media yesterday outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Government-nominated GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander said that he had seen a report from the taskforce which granted the Commission permission to establish two more workstations and raised concerns about the current adherence to precautionary measures previously recommended.
GECOM spokesperson Yolanda Ward later explained that the Chair had made the decisions to add two stations before she received the report from the taskforce. The taskforce had toured the site on Thursday but didn’t deliver a report until yesterday.
“[The Chair] had not seen that report until after the Commission’s meeting. That report also included approval for an additional two workstations. They did not approve anymore but two,” she said before reading an extract from the report.
In the extract, the Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) expressed concerns about adherence to containment and mitigation measures established by WHO/PAHO in light of several situational findings such as the absence of soap at wash stations, 19 person being observed without facemasks and multiple violations of social distancing recommendations including clustering at all the head tables within workstations.
Ward also explained that the “two (new) workstations will be allocated one to Region Seven and one to Region Six.”
This allocation means that three stations will be recounting boxes from District Six while one will be counting from District Seven. Additionally three stations will be counting District Three, three will be counting District Four and two will be counting District Five.
Alexander said that while this increase in the number of stations will positively impact the pace of the recount, it is unlikely that the process will be concluded in 25 days.
He added that the threemember scrutinizing team from CARICOM has expressed concerns about this unspecified timeline while noting that the necessary mathematics will be conducted to furnish the team with a new timeline.
On the thirteenth day, the 10 workstations operating completed recounted 54 boxes comprising nine boxes from electoral District Two, 17 from District Three, 13 from District Four, 12 from
District Five and three from District Six. A total of 608 Statements of Recount (SOR) for the General Elections have been tabulated as have 609 Regional SORs.
As of noon the two workstations assigned to recount District Two had completed all 135 boxes while 134 were tabulated by the end of the workday at 7pm. The lone box still to be tabulated is ballot box 2116 which originated from a polling station with 365 registered voters. It is not clear why the Statement of Recount for this box was not with the tabulation centre.
The results from the tabulation of the district however appear to correlate with the numbers declared on March 4 by Returning Officer Roxanne Smith.
During her end-of-day briefing with the media, Ward also acknowledged several irregularities which had been observed during the day.
She explained that the Presiding Officers for two of the 13 polling stations which were located at the
Diamond Secondary School had been summoned to explain to the Commission how the Official List of Electors for their stations ended up in each other’s ballot box.
The incumbent APNU+AFC has added this occurrence to its long list of complaints which it claims brings into question the credibility of the entire GRE.
Also questioned by the incumbent is what they claim to be a pattern of ballots cast in their favour being unstamped.
Guyana’s electoral laws prescribe that a ballot which does not bear the official six-digit stamp of the specific polling station is to be rejected for “want of official mark.”
Ward explained that the Commission is examining three categories of unstamped ballots.
These included ballots cast by members of the disciplined services which were to be intermixed at identified polling stations, ballots which were stamped at either the General or Regional sections but not the other and those ballots which are completely without stamp.
She explained that the Commission has not yet made a decision in this matter but is expected to do so after more deliberations.
The stamp is to be affixed at the time the ballot paper is handed to the voter.