Voting quicker in El Dorado, slow in other areas

Returning officers along the East/West Corridor at  12.50 pm yesterday reported that although the voting process was slow, it was “steady and incident free.” Returning officer for the San Juan West/Caledonia/Morvant Upper Malick, Genet Pilgrim-Simmons, told Newsday there had been no complaints thus far, and that this was the first time there were no complaints from persons claiming their names had been “knocked off the voting list.” Pilgrim-Simmons added that normally they were on the phone dealing with queries from persons, and her roving officers had reported that all was well at the various polling stations. When Newsday visited the Maintenance Training and Security (MTS) Plaza in Aranjuez, Ivor Allum, Returning Officer for St Ann’s Cascade/Mon Repos West and St Barb’s/Chinapo also endorsed Pilgrim-Simmons’ claims that everything was “going smoothly.” However, Allum expected the voting pace to pick up after 4 o’clock, as many persons usually take their two hours to vote in the afternoon.

A poll clerk at the Barataria Secondary Comprehensive School told Newsday that things were “relatively slow” at approximately 1 pm. She had only  a little over 100 voters. Returning Officers for Macoya/Trincity and Caura/Paradise/Tacarigua, as well as Auzonville/St Benedict, Maracas/St Joseph and Valsayn North/Curepe/Pasea, based at the Tunpuna/Piarco Regional Corporation said the turn-out was “alright” despite one or two minor problems. The Officers said the problems were solved, and added that they were hoping more voters would turn up after lunchtime. A visit to the El Dorado Senior Comprehensive School proved that voting at this institution was indeed flowing at a steady pace, as persons of all age groups were seen trickling in to exercise their franchise. Reports from officials in El Dorado said there had been no lull period, and that they had actually received a lot more voters than expected. Officers throughout stated there were no problems or incidents requiring the attention of police-officers, and that this was “relatively normal for local elections.” There were also no reports of clashes between party supporters at polling stations.