Encoded H2H data will be ready before C&O ends – GECOM Commissioner

The seven-member Elections Commission on Friday afternoon met again as they try to streamline preparations for next year’s March 2 General and Regional Elections.
Following the more than two-hour long meeting at the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj told reporters that they are currently discussing the use of the data gathered from the scrapped House-to-House (H2H) Registration exercise.

“While [the H2H data should not be used] remains my position, the aspects of it is what I’m now trying to clarify because we don’t have that as yet… We have to see what aspects they are trying to use before I find a position on [its use],” he posited.
GECOM was forced to bring the controversial H2H Registration to a premature end on August 31, by which time it had obtained in excess of 370,000 registrants. It was then decided that the new data obtained will be merged with the existing National Register of Registrants (NRR) Database – something which the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been against.
Fellow Opposition Commissioner Bibi Shaddick further explained to reporters on Friday that what needs to clarified is what part of the 370,000— plus new registrants gathered during the H2H— is going to be put up for public scrutiny.
According to Shaddick, while they believe that only the data on first-time registrants should be used, the Elections Secretariat cannot disaggregate that information because they are still in the process of encoding (entering in the GECOM database) the H2H data.

“So the CEO [Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield] is to provide us with some clarity on how they’re disaggregating and what aspects of it they are proposing to put up for public scrutiny,” she noted.
But even as GECOM is still in that encoding phase, Government-nominated Commissioner Charles Corbin assured that the encoded data will be available for scrutiny before the Claims and Objections (C&O) exercise – which is currently ongoing— concludes.
“What we can tell you is that it will be for 21 days [for scrutiny]. So we’re assured that all of the [H2H] data will be available 21 days before the end of the C&O processing period for public scrutiny,” he stated.
In addition to encoding, however, GECOM is awaiting the data which was sent overseas for cross-matching of fingerprints. This was done to ensure that there is no duplication of the data obtained from the H2H exercise and those already in the NRR database.
According to Corbin, the first set of data sent for cross-matching by fingerprint experts, that is, 180,000 registrants, is expected soon.
“The first set is going to come in, I think, within a week or two… as soon as the second set is completed that will go out,” he indicated.
The GECOM Commissioner explained that the delay in getting the second and final set of data encoded and ready to be sent for cross-matching was a result of preparations for the conduct of the C&O exercise.
“In order to commence the current [C&O], you had to disrupt the equipment around to allow the production of the list for the PLE (Preliminary Voters’ List). So during the process of a week or so when that production was in progress, you had to stop your encoding. So now that has recommenced and as soon as that is finish, it will go off,” he noted.
On the issue of duplication, Corbin was asked for those who re-registered during the H2H, whether their recent information obtained during that exercise or their existing information in the database will be used.
He posited that the protocol is that more recent data be used since that is more up to date. Also questioned about this, Commissioner Shaddick contended that they are concerned that registrants appear on the voters’ list just once.
“Your name must be there only once and nobody must be left off,” she asserted.
Having started on October 1, the C&O exercise will run for a 42-day timeline as against the 35-day period previously agreed to by the seven-member Commission.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said that if GECOM continues to back-pedal on decisions it takes then it will lose its credibility. The Commission had recently announced that the timeline for the C&O was increased from 35 to 49 days.
“So when we sought to find out how this happened, we discovered that Mr Lowenfield… inserted these two features into the order… So when we sought an explanation, he said ‘Oh, I did it on my own’,” Jagdeo posited.
According to the Opposition Leader, while the Elections Commission has since reversed this, it was still influenced to extend the timeline to 42 days instead of the agreed 35. He noted that it is worrying that the CEO can change decisions taken by the Commission without any repercussions.
“…the Commission, everyone, agreed that it should be 35 days. [So] I found it extremely strange that having made that decision with a vote, that a CEO can come and then change the decision of the [Commission] without consequences,” Jagdeo asserted.
Nevertheless, the Opposition Leader noted that he still has confidence in the GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh.
In the same vain, however, he said that the PPP will continue to be vigilant and guarded against “rouge elements” within the elections body regarding the operations of GECOM going into the March 2020 elections.