THE EDITOR, Sir:IT BECAME very disconcerting to me recently when I realised that the vital human rights of some Jamaican voters were threatened. The rights that were granted in 1944 in the form of Adult Suffrage, after many years of struggle are now being taken away from some of us because of a technicality.
Many Jamaicans after making the effort to register to vote are now discovering that they have to re-verify their registration.
There are many reasons why this is so. However, removing individuals from the list is not the remedy to securing citizens' rights. Citizens of this country should be given every opportunity to participate in the governance of this country. The best method of doing so is to VOTE, to take away this privilege, I think is unconstitutional. I firmly believe that if individuals cannot be verified the privilege to vote should not be removed or denied. Legislation should be sought to place un-verified voters that are listed in the courts of the land to give them an alternative to vote.
If, for example, an individual desires to vote on election day and discovers that he/she is not on the voters' list, they should be given the alternative to go down to the local courthouse, be sworn in and given the privilege to exercise their constitutional rights. The Electoral Office is still not going far enough to ensure this. Again, the onus is on the Electoral Office to see that every eligible voter be given the opportunity to exercise his/her rights. What the individual does with this right is not the prerogative of the EOJ. It is exclusionary and I think unconstitutional to remove individuals from the list after a futile effort to ensure this.
Regarding the advertisement in The Gleaner which includes the reminder: "If you receive a notice, you MUST attend the sitting or your name will NOT be carried forward to the new voters' list". This is absurd; it is just a 'smoke screen'. How is the individual going to receive a notice at a particular location if the Electoral Office scrutineers cannot find them there to re-verify them?
I am, etc.,
FRANK HILL
rcrltdgart@colis.com
Red Hills, St. Andrew
