#JAVOTES2024 | Voters without ID cards affecting pace of ballot casting in Little London Division in Westmoreland – Myles

Ian Myles, the Jamaica Labour Party candidate for the Little London Division in Western Westmoreland, says electors turning up without their voter identification cards are slowing voting activities at polling stations across the division.

Myles, who is running against Oliver Reid, the People's National Party candidate, made the observation after casting his ballot at the Little London High School on Monday. 

“One of the problems I observed going across the divisions is that a lot of persons did not pick up their new IDs so it is slowing down the process at most of the polling stations," Myles told The Gleaner. 

“It's creating a backlog, the lines are very long because they [electors] have to be swearing or affirming,” he continued.  

According to the JLP candidate, while the administering of the Oath of Identify is the appropriate option when an elector does not take his/her elector registration card to the polling station, mitigating steps will have to be taken for future elections. 

“It is something that we'll have to look at going forward because some persons will have to go back to work and so the time elapsed between voting and them going to work, even though they have the four hours by law, it's creating some problems,” he explained. 

Some 8,458 people are registered to vote in the Little London Division.

The People's National Party, in the 2016 local government election, polled 1,127 votes to the  Jamaica Labour Party's 945 votes.

- Albert Ferguson 

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