ERROL MILLER, chairman of the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) is denying claims that the EAC and the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) will be attempting to close off the re-verification process without fully exhausting all the means necessary to verify all voters.
In a letter written to the editor of The Gleaner, Mr. Miller said that "at no time has the EAC or the EOJ ever contemplated premature closure of the residence re-verification exercise."
Mr. Miller was responding to a story carried in The Gleaner last week, in which Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Bruce Golding threatened that he would strongly oppose any attempt by the EOJ to close the verification of voters without giving the electorate a fair opportunity to verify their status.
CONCERNS
But Mr. Miller said that he was surprised by the comments made by Mr. Golding as he explained that all the concerns raised by Mr. Golding had been represented by the nominated members of the JLP on the EAC.
He said subsequent to the raising of these concerns, the EAC had agreed that it would use all media to advise persons who have not been located at their residences to get in touch with the EOJ.
Additionally, he said it was also decided that the EOJ would provide the political representatives with a list of persons who could not be located and that the political parties would independently submit to the EOJ their findings as they relate to the list.
Mr. Miller also disclosed that a public campaign to inform electors not found at the addresses of their original registrations, after repeated visits by the EOJ team would commence over the weekend.
"The commitment of the EAC, repeated at our meetings, is to use every reasonable means to locate and re-verify all electors," he said.
Mr. Miller said that the EAC has also agreed that after the EOJ has exhausted all reasonable means to locate electors, those who are not found will not be carried forward on the next voters' list, but they could re-register through the continuous registration process at any time that they choose to do so.
