WESTERN BUREAU:

Fifty trainee police officers in western Jamaica missed out on exercising their franchise on Monday as their names did not appear on the voters’ list for the security forces.

In an interview with The Gleaner just before the close of the polls, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifford Chambers, commander for Area One, said things went well, except for the trainees who did not get a chance to vote alongside soldiers, election day workers, and other police.

However, all is not lost for the trainee police. Chambers said that since the trainees’ names were not transferred from the civilian list to the security forces’ roll, he expects them to cast their ballots with the general population on Thursday.

The trainees, who are halfway through their regimen, will be granted special time off to go wherever they are listed to vote.

Chambers said that Area One is equipped with adequate vehicles to transport the trainees to their respective polling stations on election day.

Among the persons who voted on Monday was one female election day worker, who was voting for the first time. She was elated as she declared that her first vote went to the Jamaica Labour Party.

“The Government has provided opportunities so that I was able to get summer employment, assistance under the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the 19-year-old from St James North West.

At the Jamaica Defence Force’s Burke Barracks in Montego Bay, coronavirus health and safety protocols were observed, as voters sanitised and had their temperature read before being allowed to access the voting area.

“My vote today is about change, and we need it now,” a female soldier told The Gleaner after voting.