Elections and Boundaries: Vote is secret

Around this time every election year, the integrity of Belize’s voting process comes under intense scrutiny. Leading the accusations this March are claims that voters can be traced back to ballot papers by political operatives working inside polling and counting stations on election day. To combat the rumour mill, today the Elections and Boundaries Department went on the offensive, vehemently defending Belize’s electoral system.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
With the ballot papers hot off the press, both the People?s United Party and the United Democratic Party have been hitting the pavement with a vengeance, eager to meet as many voters as possible before March first.

Latest statistics from the Elections and Boundaries Department reveal that more than seventy-seven thousand Belizeans will be eligible to vote next Wednesday.

Belize City has the highest concentration with some thirty-four thousand six hundred and seventy-seven registered voters. The twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena place a distant second with eight thousand eight hundred and eight-one voters. Orange Walk is third with eight thousand three hundred and ninety-four, Corozal has five thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, while Belmopan has a total of five thousand fifty-nine voters. There are four thousand five hundred and sixty-nine voters in Dangriga, four thousand one hundred and seventy-seven people registered in San Pedro, three thousand three hundred and ninety-four in Benque Viejo, and two thousand six hundred and forty in Punta Gorda.

According to election officials, they expect some sixty percent of the electorate to vote on Wednesday.

But with only six days left to March first, today the Election and Boundaries Department is feeling the pressure of increased allegations that the voting process can be compromised.

In an effort to avert crisis, today Chief Elections Officer Stuart Leslie met with the media for an education session on what exactly should happen in the polling and counting stations.

Stuart Leslie, Chief Elections Officer
?Your vote is secret. I don?t want young voters or first time voters to stay away from the polls because they believe that somehow or the other there is some collusion going on between the politicians and people who work in the process, and printers and everybody else that we can tell how you vote. That whole process is sacred and the proof of the pudding is that since Independence in 1981 we have successfully changed governments peacefully and we?ve changed them in and out, in and out until 2003. This is the first time since independence, in twenty-five years, that we?ve seen a government return in central government. It is a secret ballot.?

The meeting got hands-on when members of the media were invited to test the integrity and security of ballot boxes.

But the biggest controversy of the day involves ballot numbers and the concern that the documents can be traced back to voters. Krem News?s Khalilah Enriquez explained one scenario.

Khalilah Enriquez
?This is what they say is done: let?s you dah U.D.P. and I wah send you in first and then you wah come back to me and tell me I got ballot number so and so. And so once we know that you got ballot number so and so?ballot number 200, we can follow the sequence from there. We can say, well the person after you is voter number two hundred and one.?

?This is where the thing comes in then?you show the ballot and I think the ballot paper, let?s say this was 200. And because while I am examining and making sure that the signature is there, I see ballot number 200 and I say, oh that?s Ann-Marie?s ballot. And then when I do the counting, I say, oh that was ballot number 200 and I count all blue.?

Janelle Chanona
?Have you found anyway that this system can be breached??

Stuart Leslie
?We?ve tested the system, we?ve looked at it and we?ve done it all over the country. We?ve brought in other people, these people have friends of elections and boundaries. Look, I report to the commission. I have to answer to a commission that is comprised of people from the United Democratic Party or appointed by the Leader of the Opposition, and of the People?s United Party, the government. And I have to go before them, in fact today Thursday I have to appear before the commission to speak about the state of readiness for election. And they will expect accountability, because again, it?s the commission who?s on the line out there. And so we?ve tried, we?ve looked at it, we?ve tried to see every possible way how we can tell. And unless you have superman kinda ray vision, you can actually hone in on every ballot paper?in Belize City there are thirty-six thousand four hundred plus voters. If sixty percent of those people turn out to poll, which is the norm in City Council elections, that?s over twenty-five thousand ballots that?s going to be cast that day in fifty-seven different polling areas. I mean we?re talking about every polling station having over five hundred ballots to process between seven in the morning and six in the evening and then going into the counting. Who has time??

?The law speaks to every activity that we do here. And so if there is to be any change, it has to be done at the legislative level. The commission and myself, as the Chief Elections Officer, we don?t have the authority to change a ballot, to remove serial numbers?the configuration of the ballot is stipulated by law and one place you could change law dah Belize, the legislature??

Janelle Chanona
?But is there a real need for the numbers? Would it compromise the integrity of the system if after this election there?s a move put forward to have the numbers removed??

Stuart Leslie
?We don?t believe in this department that there is a need to remove the numbers, but there seems to be a lot of noise out there for something to be done about it. This decision will have to be taken at the political level.?

Janelle Chanona
?And your recommendation would be?

Stuart Leslie
?My recommendation right now is that we are going into an election on Wednesday and I want people to be confident that their vote is secret. After Wednesday, if you want to sit down and talk, meet with your political agents, meet with the department, write to me, express your concerns so I can express them to the commission, and then let us go from there. But for Wednesday, we can?t change anything.?