Continuous registration: GECOM to verify residency, cross-match fingerprints before producing ID cards

As the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) pursues its continuous registration exercise, several verification mechanisms have been put in place to ensure registrants are providing accurate information as well as prevent double registration.

GECOM commenced the continuous registration process last month to update the List of Electors – potentially paving the way for the hosting of the long-overdue Local Government Elections (LGE). The exercise will run until the end of May.
However, in a statement on Thursday, the Elections Commission sought to address some issues as it relates to the registration process. These include responsibility for the filling of registration forms, signature of applicants for registration, residency verification, and production and distribution of National Identification (ID) Cards.
According to GECOM, there are a variety of statutory forms that must be filled when applying for any of the various registration transactions, as a matter of Commission policy. It noted that the GECOM registration staff have been “trained extensively” to perform this task and as such, registration applicants were not permitted to fill any of the forms.
Further, the Commission said that while individual persons have their respective signatures, there is no prescribed signature requirement that must be met by applicants for registration, save and except for placing their signature in the space provided for this purpose.
Another issue GECOM addressed in Thursday’s missive is residency verification, which is a statutory component of the process that must be completed relative to the processing of an application for registration.
“The Commission – as a matter of policy – decided that registration staff must visit the residential address provided by an applicant no sooner than 48 hours after the application was made. The justification for this is to discourage persons applying for registration from using addresses where they do not reside.”
It was noted by GECOM that this measure was pivotal to the correct placement of eligible persons on any List of Electors to ensure that they were correctly listed to vote at polling stations for the catchment area pertinent to their residential addresses.
Meanwhile, as it relates to the production and issuance of National ID Cards, the elections body explained that this was done only for those persons whose applications for registration were successful. This requires due diligence to avoid double registration.
“It must be noted that GECOM is responsible to ensure that no person is listed more than once in the National Register of Registrants (NRR). Accordingly, the Commission conducts due diligence checks for double registration by cross-matching the fingerprints of all applicants for registration against those of the registrants who are listed in the NRR,” the Commission said.
Currently, this fingerprint cross-matching process is outsourced to an overseas contractor.
But according to GECOM, the fingerprints of applicants taken during the registration exercise can only be dispatched for cross-matching after the close of the exercise, which is scheduled for May 29.
“It is only after the applicants for registration have been cleared as new applicants for registration, through this methodology, that they are committed to the NRR and ID Cards would be produced for them accordingly. It is not unusual for this to take place until about two months after the closure of the particular registration exercise,” the elections body said.
GECOM further said it was committed to providing accurate information to all stakeholders in a timely manner, hence it encouraged them to ensure that they seek answers to any queries about the registration process from the Commission itself through its Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward.
Only on Wednesday, Ward told Guyana Times that the continuous registration exercise has so far resulted in almost 20,000 new, eligible voters being registered.
She disclosed that a total of 19,389 new eligible voters were registered as at April 26. In addition, 15,234 new registrants between the ages of 14 and 17 were recorded by GECOM during that period. There were also 2516 transfers, 4156 changes, 4493 replacements, and 1075 photo retakes processed.
GECOM had its statutory meeting on Tuesday after which Government-nominated Commissioner, Bibi Shadick indicated to this newspaper that most of their discussions on continuous registration dealt with ensuring the smooth progression of the exercise.
Any person, who will be 14 years or older by October 31, 2022, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or naturalisation or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more can apply for registration, provided that he or she was never registered before.
Applicants are required to visit the GECOM registration office responsible for their area of residence with the relevant source documents: original birth certificate, valid passport, adoption certificate, or naturalisation certificate in the case of new registration.
For a change of name, the original marriage certificate or deed poll with birth certificate is required. Existing registrants, who are desirous of updating their records, such as a request to correct or change their names, date of birth, occupation or update addresses are advised that those transactions would also be facilitated during this exercise.
It is understood that GECOM is looking to have an updated voters’ list in place by October, in order for the LGE to be held. The last time GECOM conducted continuous registration was in 2019, in preparation for the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.