By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE ACCOMPONG Maroons in St.Elizabeth will go to the polls today to elect a new Colonel.
Today's election ends months of bitter wrangling over electoral and constitutional procedures, which prevented the process from going ahead last month as originally planned.
"We did an inspection of all polling stations today (Wednesday) and we are satisfied that everything is in place," said Earl Simpson, assistant director of Field Operations at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ). "The candidates have said they are ready and we are ready."
BOOK WITH NAMES
In terms of procedures, Mr. Simpson said that the EOJ would be running the elections in a manner similar to national elections. There will be a book with the names of the eligible voters at each polling station, a fingerprint scanning machine and teams from the EOJ at each station.
The three candidates, who are vying for the support of the 1,500 eligible voters, are incumbent Colonel Sydney Peddie, former Colonel Meridie Rowe and Ralston Reid. In a bid to facilitate speedy queries and avoid confusion, the candidates will be provided with a photographic record of all the eligible voters.
Since the election campaign started, the process has been plagued by a number of problems. Initially, Colonel Peddie proposed closing all the polling stations located outside Accompong. He later backtracked after the other candidates in the race objected to the idea.
Today's election will see Maroons casting their votes at polling stations in Accompong Town, Aberdeen, Windsor, Cedar Spring, Elderslie, Garlands, the EOJ's office in Montego Bay, St. James and Kingston.
