No Cut-Off Date For Renewal Of Voter ID Cards

There is no cut-off date for the renewal of voter identification (ID) cards, says the Deputy Director of Elections, with responsibility for Field Operations, Earl Simpson.

Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Simpson shared that every elector should get the opportunity to renew their card and urged electors to follow the guidelines established at Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) locations islandwide.

“This exercise continues and it continues throughout the year, and there is no cut-off date. No elector will not get the opportunity to renew their cards. So, as soon as you have the time to visit the office, please do so, follow the process that is there and you will be advised of the turnaround times for the cards to be ready. In the interim, if you so request a letter of identity, we will provide you with one,” the Deputy Director of Elections said.

With the old voter ID cards no longer valid at the end of 2021, many electors capitalised on the opportunity to renew old cards and collect new ones.

However, the EOJ has taken note of persons revisiting their offices about their new voter ID cards, in situations that could have been avoided. These include not checking the status of their cards, visiting the wrong location for the collection of their cards and also requesting demographic changes shortly after making a renewal application.

“We have seen where a number of electors visit our office and request the renewal of their cards and then shortly after they want changes to be made to their demographic information because they got married or there is a misspelling in the name or something is wrong,” Mr. Simpson said.

“It is best that when you make the renewal request and if there are any of those demographic changes that need to be made, that you make the request also at that time, so that the card will be made once. If you seek to do everything at the same time that would reduce the number of persons coming to the office at this time,” he added.

The EOJ Voter ID Renewal Exercise commenced in November 2019 and the distribution of those cards in October 2021. Since then, more than 800,000 new cards have been printed; more than 426,000 cards have been distributed; and approximately 162,000 renewal applications received in the last quarter of 2021.