Electoral Department officials have responded to claims by UWP Micoud North candidate, Elisha Norbert, regarding voter registration irregularities.
Last week Norbert had alleged that some active voters were being moved to the deceased registry, raising concerns about the integrity of the voters’ list.
“A number of our voters have issues with their ID cards. There was some enumeration exercise and certain persons who are still alive, their names have been removed from the voters list and are on a list of deceased individuals. When I inquired, I was told that a death certificate must be presented in order for a name to be removed from the voters list. I want to know what is going on,” Norbert said during a recent party engagement.
Herman St. Helene, Chief Elections Officer, reassured the public that the department strictly adheres to electoral legislation and proper procedures.
“I think it is not correct because there’s a procedure in place when somebody dies. And before I start, I would like to say to the public that if Mr. Norbert has a list, the first thing he needs to do is to come into the office with the list and we will investigate it,” he said.
St. Helene explained that no name is removed from the voters list without proper documentation.
“No name is taken off the list without a death certificate. How we do that? Monthly, we get reports from the funeral homes indicating who has died, where the person is from, so that we go and make a cross reference to our own list to ensure accuracy. Secondly, we also listen to obituaries on all the stations to make sure that whatever we get from the funeral homes is correct. Obviously, we need to get a death certificate to ensure before any name is removed from the list.”
He also extended an invitation to Norbert to collaborate directly with the department.
“So, what I want to suggest, I am open to meeting Mr. Norbert at any time. I would like for him to come and provide me with the list. We will sit down together, discuss this, and I will investigate. The electoral department, we do not do things arbitrarily. We are guided by the law, and we go according to what the law says.”
The department emphasized that it remains committed to transparency and compliance with the law in all aspects of voter registration and maintenance of the electoral roll.