29 ballot boxes from PPP’s ECD strongholds held up by GECOM

Despite SoRs matching SoPs

…Lowenfield, Mingo claim they did not receive requisitioned documents

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has placed 29 ballot boxes, from Polling Stations between Ogle and Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, on hold until it can decide the way forward as it relates to the issues of missing ancillary documents.
This decision was taken on Friday by GECOM Commissioners and communicated on Saturday to the media.
The areas from which the ancillary documents are missing are from several of the Peoples Progressive Party’s strongholds. Among the missing documents are poll books, counterfoils, the marked (ticked off) Official List of Electors.
Following the discussions, the Commission decided that the SoRs prepared for those ballot boxes should not be included in the tabulation at this point in time.
The commission then directed the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield to investigate the matter. However, several of the presiding officers have since indicated they were instructed by the Returning Officer’s (Clairmont Mingo) clerk to hand over these documents to the Deputy Returning Officers (DROs) in a last minute despite they said was outside of their training. This should not have happened because those documents should have been placed in the corresponding ballot boxes for the polling place. Nevertheless, the POs sealed the ballot boxes with the votes for their stations.
However, it has since been revealed that Lowenfield, upon the insistence of the PPP/C, prepared a document where he outlined the rules that govern the operations of the POs but those were disregarded. The PPP/C raised this issue with the then Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, who assured them that it was a mistake and would be addressed administratively.
However, now that the recount is being conducted, the CEO and Mingo has since denied that they are in receipt of the documents.
GECOM has since said that the ballots that were in those boxes were counted despite the missing documents which the Commission became aware of only after the boxes were opened on Friday.
The Commission has decided that the SORs prepared for those ballot boxes should not be included in the tabulation at this point in time, GECOM said on Saturday.

Presiding officer speaks out
However, Presiding Officer of Montrose Primary School, Wendy Ann has since taken to social media to dispute GECOM’s rhetoric on the issue.
She said in her social media post that “we were instructed by our DRO to not put the documents in the box.” She said that by now GECOM should realize that it could not be mere coincidence that all the PO under one particular DRO did the same thing.
“You’d expect the most two (2) POs to make the same mistake, but ALL??? These boxes were sealed in the presence of these DROs, yet, nobody can give account for the missing documents?? And now, the DROs released this joint statement saying they never instructed the POs to omit those documents?? I’ll leave that one for the smart people to figure out. Let’s hope they publish the names of these DROs and the joint statement they made.”

Mingo’s instructions
A Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) who worked at the Chateau Margot Primary School Polling Place, ECD, has written to GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, informing her that they had received instructions to place ancillary documents separately from the ballot boxes.
DRO Paul Jaisingh said the instruction was passed down from the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo’s Clerk.
In his letter, he stated: “Please be informed that instructions were given by Miss Carlyn Duncan (Clerk to the Returning Officer Mr Clairmont Mingo-District #4) to include only unused, valid and rejected ballots in the ballot boxes. This was communicated to the respective Presiding Officers who complied. As a result, the other documents were placed in the bag provided. This instruction was given on Election day a few hours before the close of the poll. Other Deputy Returning Officers affected by this decision can confirm the same.”
Additionally, a Presiding Officer at the Montrose Primary School – one of the disputed polling places, took to social media to explain what exactly happened there.
She released the following statement on Friday:
“Throughout this entire election shenanigans, I chose to remain quiet but now that the polling place which I worked at was brought into question, I cannot keep quiet anymore. On behalf of the Presiding Officers that worked at the Montrose Primary School, please note that this is a lie!… All documents for the four (4) Polling Stations were submitted to the DRO as per instructions by the Clerk to the RO… The original SOP attached would explain the desperation to lie! This is beyond ridiculous now!
“PS: The Presiding Officers were given specific instructions not to seal the ballot boxes without the DRO being present to verify what was placed in the boxes and these instructions were complied with,” Wendy Ann wrote on her Facebook page.
Several Polling Stations between Vryheid’s Lust and La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, upon instructions from the Clerk to the Returning Officer for Electoral District Four, left ancillary documents out of the ballot boxes. The documents included the Official List of Electors, poll books, counterfoils, and others.
PPP/C Elections Agent, Anil Nandlall had said that this was raised with Mingo, who acknowledged the mistake and assured that it would be rectified.

PPP/C argues against disenfranchisement
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), following the revelation by GECOM that the boxes would be placed on hold, argued that no matter what documents are missing, the electors should not be disenfranchised.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that whatever is the outcome of GECOM’s investigations of their internal issues, not a single Guyanese elector must lose their franchise in the process. It is hoped that the Commission will address this matter satisfactorily in accordance with the purpose of the exercise, which is a recount of the ballots cast on 2nd March 2020, and consistent with the comment of the Chairperson at the commencement of this exercise: “Every vote will be counted’,” the party said in a statement Saturday night.
The party noted that rather than dealing with the issues internally, GECOM issued several statements in an effort to confuse the public as to what the next move is.
However, the PPP/C is demanding to see the letter signed by those DROs.
“…another letter from a group of Deputy Returning Officers, apparently from the East Coast of Demerara but it is unclear who these DROs are and whether they are from the same geographical area under review, where the DROs’ dispute the controversial instructions. This public statement seems to be in concert with the narrative and false allegations peddled by the APNU+AFC, aimed at disenfranchising electors in PPP/C strongholds,” the party said.

GECOM to summon Presiding Officers
Meanwhile, GECOM in a statement on Saturday said it checked the poll bags in hope of recovering those missing documents but they were not found. It summoned the DROs, who worked between Ogle to Lusignan to explain what transpired on Elections Day but those officers did not turn up to the meeting. However, GECOM has not published to names of the DROs who deliberately missed the meeting.
GEOCM has since claimed that efforts would be made to contact the Presiding Officers who were responsible for the respective Polling Stations. The Commission will convene a meeting to determine the way forward,” the statement explained.