#JaVotes2020 | Mosquitoes outnumber voters at HWT Primary
Published:Thursday | September 3, 2020 | 11:09 AM
Erica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
Polling division 35 at Half-Way Tree Primary School in the constituency of St Andrew East Central accepted its first elector at 7:03 this morning.
The process took six minutes, but three minutes later, the second person in line was still in position. Shortly afterwards, the elector was called, and that process was completed in three minutes.
Outdoor agents of the political parties were seen offering sanitising solutions. Another station was placed at the door to the polling station, while hands were sanitised twice inside the station: before the vote was done and before the finger was dipped into the ink.
A small crowd of older voters were the first to vote at the school, which houses a cluster of polling stations 29-37.
Electors were seen fanning away profusely the heavy contingent of mosquitoes that have been occupying the school since it closed in March. Inside the polling station, a fan was in full force in the early hours to offend the mosquitoes, an election day worker said.
The Ministry of Health is reminding individuals that dengue is still a health focus despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The worker said that the rooms where voting was being done were sprayed earlier but that mosquitoes remained the largest gathering at the polling cluster.
The normal chatter and buoyancy among electors were noticeably absent while election officials were busy enforcing the six-foot distance between individuals.
An old lady estimated to be in her 80s was allowed to vote at her station first.
A steady trek of voters was observed heading to the school between 7:15 and 7:45.
Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips is the incumbent, and he is being challenged by Jodian Myrie, the daughter of dancehall artiste Mark Myrie, who is better known as Buju Banton.
St Andrew East Central
2020
PNP - Peter Phillips
JLP - Jodian Myrie
2016
PNP - Peter Phillips - 7,017
JLP - Marie Prince - 4,774