Director of Elections to Receive CD on October 20

Director of Elections, Glasspole Brown, is to receive the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), for his outstanding service in electoral management and democracy.

He will be presented with the national award by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, during the ceremony of investiture on National Heroes’ Day, October 20.

Mr. Brown told JIS News that when he received the call informing him of the award he “paused”, as he wondered if they had called the right person.

“After it was confirmed, I was quite humbled, certainly in terms of when I was told that I was getting the award. I then sought to enquire who made the nomination, and I understand that it was from my Commission (Electoral Commission of Jamaica), and that again, sort of gave me some level of satisfaction in the sense that my work was being recognised by the Commission that I currently work with,” he said.

Mr. Brown is a veteran public servant, who has spent decades working in Administration within the public sector.

Prior to joining the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).

He also spent 18 years with the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica Group, the last five of which he served as General Manager of the Petroleum Company of Jamaica (Petcom).

“So, when I started, you’re exposed to a number of things, a number of different areas… . I think that’s what cemented my need to want to serve the public service, and it has been a fulfilling career, so far, in terms of the impact that you have had, not just on individuals but, certainly, by extension, the country that you serve,” Mr. Brown said.

The Director of Elections is a past student of Glenmuir High School in Clarendon and holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Barry University in Florida and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) Degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies.

He also earned a Diploma in Energy Planning and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Brown told JIS News that his personal life and, by extension, his years of service in the public sector was shaped by his mother, who was a teacher; his father, who was a lawyer; and his stepfather.

“My utterances and my actions are embedded in the teachings of the Bible and, therefore, my mother sought to see that I was so grounded in the Word, from when I was little… ensuring that I go to church, Sunday school, certainly because she was a teacher,” he said.

“There are certain principles that she ensured that I live by. She guided me in terms of shaping my outlook, shaping the person that I am today. And there was that great support there, certainly from my parents and the support from my siblings… [and] my wider family,” he added.

Mr. Brown joined the ECJ in 2009 in the capacity of Assistant Director of Elections – Administration, with overall responsibility for multiple general administrative functions of the organisation. He was appointed to the position of Director of Elections in July 2018.

A fact that many persons would not know is that as Director of Elections, Mr. Brown’s name is not on the voters’ list.

“I can’t vote; therefore, I can’t support any political party in the process,” he pointed out.

Mr. Brown also spoke to the long hours given by workers, during an election period.

“Certainly, there are times that we are here 15, 18 hours a day to try and get it done. The law allows us a minimum of 16 to a maximum of 23 days after nomination day. Unfortunately, the powers that be in all elections that I have been involved in go for the minimum time period, which is 16 days. So, it requires a lot of work, it requires managing a lot, a large number of persons in the process,” Mr. Brown said.

“You’re talking close to 60,000 persons that we have engaged in the process. So, it takes a lot of work and a lot of understanding of the process to ensure that… at the end of the day, in terms of the assessment that will be done, that it is free and fair in terms of the election, which is the goal that you work towards, a good election at the end of the day,” he added.

As Director of Elections, Mr. Brown and his team oversee a process that selects who governs the country.

“Certainly, that process will impact the level of governance that we have at the end of the day. So, that motivates me in the sense that I want to ensure that at the end of the day, our work is so accepted by the wider public, certainly in terms of the integrity of what we do and the professionalism of what we do in terms of achieving that sort of goal,” he said.

“And that goal is to ensure that we continue to manage a system that… has a level of transparency and a level of integrity. Certainly, what I’ve inherited here in terms of the prior Directors is something that is quite lauded in the wider Caribbean and, by extension, beyond the Caribbean. I want to ensure that I continue that platform, that certainly the work of the Electoral Office of Jamaica is seen in that sort of light, a light that is accepted by the wider world [and] the wider public,” he added.

The Director of Elections said since his time at the EOJ, they have sought to improve on the entity’s technological base.

“So, we have looked at our system in terms of the machine that we use now. We have replaced and upgraded the biometric system that we have. We have a system that works quickly now… in terms of comparing every individual fingerprint with the total database. So, therefore, we ensure the integrity of our list,” Mr. Brown said.

“Certainly, we have expanded our role at the Electoral Office of Jamaica. We have now been given the task of the National Identification and Registration Inspectorate (NIRI), reflecting…what the powers that be see as our quality of our work, certainly that has given us some satisfaction,” he said.

Mr. Brown pointed out that in terms of development of staff, “we have done a number of things there”.

“We have a well-trained staff in terms of what we do in managing the elections. So, the technological base of it, we have modernised a number of things that we do in our system here at the electoral office,” he noted.