Safety Measures In Place For Electors To Collect New Voter ID Cards

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has put a number of measures in place to ensure the safety of electors and the observance of COVID-19 protocols as the Office embarks on the distribution of the new voter identification (ID) cards.

The distribution of new voter ID cards will be done alphabetically by surnames. Persons with surnames from A to E can collect their cards on Mondays, F to K on Tuesdays, L to P on Wednesdays, Q to T on Thursdays, and U to Z on Fridays. This assignment by surname is the first of the EOJ’s list of implemented measures.

“We are going to ask of our electors to, as best as possible adhere to the different days that are assigned to their surnames and to pick up their cards on those specified days. We are seeking to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols. Everybody will be required to wear your masks, your temperature will be taken at the locations and the sanitisation process will take place,” shared Director of Elections, Glasspole Brown, at a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’.

The EOJ will begin issuing the new voter ID cards on October 11 from all its constituency offices across the island.

“In anticipation of a turnout in those offices that can accommodate it, we have put in tents and chairs so that we can properly seat the electors until we are ready to give them the cards. We have also identified about seven offices where the space within the office is not large enough and, therefore, we will be taking the distribution to another location not too far from the office but with more space for the elector to easily go and collect the cards,” added Deputy Director of Elections with responsibility for Field Operations, Earl Simpson.

Mr. Simpson shared that the EOJ will be monitoring the day-to-day happenings and making adjustments accordingly.

With current voter ID cards set to expire on December 31, 2021, the EOJ is anticipating a large turnout of electors who use the cards as their main form of identification. To make the process flow as smoothly as possible, the EOJ will implement a numbering or ticketing system and hire additional staff for the exercise.

“We have taken on additional temporary staff to assist with the process in each office. We have also reconfigured the arrangements in our constituency offices, so we will have an area solely dedicated to the collection of new ID cards. If you are there to do any other business, whether it is registration, revision or seeking general information, there is another section that you will go,” Mr. Simpson said.

Among the staff hired are security personnel to help in ensuring social distancing and the other safety protocols. In a number of constituencies, the EOJ will also have on hand personnel from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, if required.

Special provisions have also been made for persons who are incapacitated and unable to collect their new voter ID cards. By simply making a request to the Returning Officer in the constituency in which they live or the constituency where they indicated they would collect their ID card, persons can have their cards delivered to them.

“If it is that you are incapacitated, elderly, having underlying issues that prevent you from journeying to the constituency office, what we have indicated is that you can make a request to the Returning Officer, and the Returning Officer on receiving that request will do the necessary due diligence and will make arrangements to take the card to the elector at their home and deliver it there. And we do that for registration, and any other electoral matters that we would do normally for incapacitated persons,” Mr. Simpson said.

The EOJ offices will be open for distribution of new voter ID cards from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Mondays to Thursdays and from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Fridays. Electors are asked to take along their existing voter ID cards and receipts from the renewal request when collecting the new cards.

The new voter ID cards will be valid until 2031.