GECOM Explains How Disciplined Services Ballots Are Counted
By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News.
Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Ward, has outlined the process used to handle and count ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Services ahead of the September 1 general and regional elections.
Ward explained that although the ballots are issued with an outer envelope carrying the rank’s name for verification, once returned, the actual ballot contains no name, ensuring secrecy of the vote.
“At the close of poll, those ballots are returned to our headquarters. We then begin the process of sorting them—grouping each ballot into the districts where the ranks are registered to vote, since their place of work is not always the same as their registered address,” Ward said.
She added that the extraction of 10,481 ballots was done in advance, representing the total number of eligible voters within the disciplined services. The process, she noted, was done in the presence of political party agents to ensure transparency.
The breakdown of eligible voters includes 6,999 ranks from the Guyana Police Force, 3,016 from the Guyana Defence Force, and 466 from the Guyana Prison Service.
Ward emphasized that on Election Day, these ballots will undergo a process of intermixing with civilian ballots before counting, in accordance with the law, to preserve confidentiality.
