Elections fraud case Copies of the SoPs in Police custody tendered into evidence

As the trial in the 2020 elections fraud case continued on Thursday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, Police Inspector Nigel Stephens took to the stand, and several certified copies of the Statements of Poll (SoPs) from the March 2, 2020, elections, which were in Police custody, were officially entered into evidence.
Inspector Stephens’ appearance on the stand came one day after the Registrar of the Supreme Court, Sueann Lovell, testified. During his testimony, the Policeman spoke of the strict chain of command under which the documents were kept.
He testified to having retrieved the certified copies of the electoral documents from Lovell in May 2021, verifying their authenticity and then placing them in a safe at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Tactical Services Unit.
“I placed it in a safe to which only I had the keys and the combination. Safes are located at the TSU,” Stephens noted.
Stephens was questioned by the prosecution on whether he, at any time, gave the key or combination to the safe to anyone else, to which he replied in the negative. He related that he would be able to identify the documents based on markings he placed both on the documents and on the envelopes in which the documents were stored.
The day saw only SoPs from Regions One to Four being able to be completed. The trial will continue today with Lovell returning to the stand to continue the tendering of the original SoPs, after which the case is expected to be adjourned.
It was reported that there were a total of 2339 polling stations for the 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE), resulting in 2339 SoPs and 2339 Statements of Recount (SoRs), each for the General and the Regional elections, respectively.
It was back in January 2021 that the High Court ordered the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to transfer all original SoPs and SoRs from the 2020 elections to the custody of the High Court for safekeeping and as official evidence. The documents were delivered to the High Court by former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield in the presence of GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh. Lowenfield is one of the defendants currently charged in the case.
The documents were ordered to be handed over, given that the Representation of the Peoples Act (ROPA) allows the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) to destroy all election documents after a 12-month period has elapsed.
Since then, the original electoral documents have been physically secured in the High Court vault under the sole control of the Supreme Court Registrar. Lovell testified that the documents remained solely under her control. Since receipt, the documents have been kept secured in two fireproof cabinets located in her office, Lovell testified.
In May 2021, copies of the original SoPs and SoRs were made and handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) as evidence in the election fraud case. During the handing over of the copies to the Police, an audit process was conducted to ensure that the copies handed over were an exact match to the original documents held by the registrar.
Lowenfield is one of nine persons charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud concerning the tabulation of votes for Region Four in the 2020 GRE.
Those charged include former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence; former APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph; and former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings.