RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Chief Elec­tions Of­fi­cer Fern Nar­cis-Scope says the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) is “pumped and ready” for the Au­gust 10 gen­er­al elec­tion.

In an in­ter­view late Fri­day, Nar­cis-Scope said $43 mil­lion has been al­lo­cat­ed to ex­e­cute free and fair elec­tions and train­ing of re­turn­ing of­fi­cers is on­go­ing. Dur­ing the COVID-19 lock­down pe­ri­od, se­nior ad­min­is­tra­tive staff of the EBC con­tin­ued to re­port for work.

She ex­plained that the EBC has been li­ais­ing with the Min­istry of Health and guide­lines were pro­vid­ed for so­cial dis­tanc­ing pro­to­cols dur­ing the vot­ing process.

Nar­cis-Scope said a mock ex­er­cise will be held ear­ly next week fol­low­ing which the guide­lines will be is­sued to the pub­lic.

“We are train­ing re­turn­ing of­fi­cers as we speak. Writs are be­ing is­sued to­day so we are get­ting ready. We are in the busi­ness of elec­tions and we are get­ting ready. We do not have any chal­lenges re­al­ly,” she said.

She said there is not like­ly to be an in­crease in polling sta­tions or elec­tion day staff and EBC of­fi­cials “will sim­ply do what is re­quired to en­sure free and fair elec­tions on Au­gust 10. “

She ex­plained: “We will have to re­con­fig­ure the polling sta­tions to al­low more spac­ing be­tween polling staff and polling agents, as well as ad­e­quate spac­ing in the lines where the elec­torate are com­ing in. It’s a re­con­fig­u­ra­tion of the polling sta­tion, al­low­ing phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing guide­lines.

“I don’t an­tic­i­pate an in­crease in man­pow­er, at least not right now. We will ask the nor­mal staff at the polling sta­tion to as­sist with what­ev­er needs to be san­i­tized and en­sur­ing that the mem­bers of the pub­lic and the elec­torate ad­here to the guide­lines.”

Nar­cis-Scope said the EBC had doc­u­ment­ed “what we con­sid­ered to be some of the bur­geon­ing is­sues rel­a­tive to COVID 19 in terms of what we would do if we were faced with a com­mu­ni­ty spread com­pared to what we would do if there was none and that is the cur­rent state of af­fairs.”

She promised that the EBC will be ready and every­thing will be in place for vot­ing on Au­gust 10.

On the mat­ter of ex­pired ID cards, Nar­cis-Scope said the gov­ern­ment had ex­tend­ed the va­lid­i­ty of every ID card un­til De­cem­ber 31.

“You don’t need the ID to vote. The ID card is­sue is a non-is­sue for the pur­pos­es of elec­tions,” she said.

EBC of­fices re­opened to the pub­lic on June 8 and first-time reg­is­trants are be­ing ser­viced.

“There has been a steady flow of in­ter­est­ed reg­is­trants, first-timers com­ing in to con­duct busi­ness,” she said.

“We are pumped and ready to de­liv­er a free and fair elec­tion for 2020.”