Much Ado About Nothing…P.U.P. requested change

Alberto August

But there is good news for Smith; late this evening Chief Elections Officer, Josephine Tamai, told News Five that the Central Christian School on the compound of Central Assembly of God will now be used as the second polling station for the Pickstock constituency. When we spoke to Alberto August, chairman of the Elections & Boundaries Commission, he said that the ITVET was excluded as a polling station in order to avoid political influence on voters based on the proximity of businesses owned by U.D.P. standard bearers in the area.  The commission, he says, simply honored the request of the People’s United Party.

Via Phone: Alberto August, Chairman, Elections & Boundaries Commission

“As Dr. Smith has rightfully indicated there has traditionally been two polling stations in the Pickstock Constituency: one at the City Center and then there was the other one at Technical College which is now ITVET.  But we all know that the City Center is either being demolished or is rendered unsafe for public use. And then in terms of the ITVET it was at the request of Dr. Smith’s party that the commission decided not to conduct any kind of polling whatsoever at the ITVET because Mr. Smith’s party expressed some concerns about that location being too close for comfort to the business place of a General Elections candidate of the United Democratic Party.  And so based on that information coming out of Mr. Smith’s party and that opposition to using the ITVET as a polling station for any polling activity the department was tasked by the commission to come up with an alternative venue.  And so based on the department’s recommendation the commission approved a singular polling station at St. Luke’s Methodist School and therefore, like Belmopan which has in the region of eight thousand voters or almost three times the amount of voters in the Pickstock Division there will be no distant movement of ballot boxes because all the polls will be conducted right there at the St. Luke’s Methodist School, like in Belmopan all the polls will be conducted right there at the Belmopan Comprehensive School. We adjusted to their request and now we’re coming up with another one now, they want polling to be conducted at ITVET.  We have already made that decision and we will stick to it now because it has already been published.  If we would go around changing everybody’s request at this time that is why we had a period where the political parties were advised as to where these polling stations and counting stations will be located.”