IDs for New Voters to Be Distributed Wednesday

KINGSTON — Voter identification cards for the new electors, who were added to the November 30 voters list, should be ready for distribution to constituency offices by Wednesday, December 7, 2011.

Public Education Officer at the Electoral Office, Christin Senior, told JIS News that the office is currently printing and packaging the identification cards (ID) for distribution to the offices.

“Several of them have already been printed and they have been sent out by regions to the constituency offices, but we hope to begin officially distributing them by Wednesday,” Miss Senior said.

Last week, the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (EoJ) published its latest voters list of 1,648,036 million, of which there are 41,607 new electors.

For persons who were on the voters list prior to the publication of the November 30 list (those who were added on or before May 31, 2011) those ID cards are also available for collection.

“About a month ago at our last check, we had 300,000 ID cards that were yet to be collected,” Miss Senior said.

She informed that the ID cards “must be collected by the (owner) at the constituency officer where you are registered. You cannot send somebody for it; it is not delivered by mail or anything like that. You have to sign for it and we will also verify that the information is correct and we will also verify your identity."

In terms of voting on Election Day, Miss Senior explained that if voters do not have their ID card they will still be allowed to vote once their name is on the voters list and their identity can be verified.

Jamaicans will go to the polls on Thursday December 29, 2011. Prime Minister Hon. Andrew Holness, announced the date for the country’s 16th general election on Sunday (Dec.4).  Nomination Day is scheduled for Monday, December 12, exactly one week away.

Persons can check to see if their names are on the new list by viewing the online voters’ list database at http://www.eoj.com.jm/.

By Latonya Linton, JIS Reporter