The Electoral Commission of Dominica has started a series of Town Hall Meetings to educate the public on plans for the issuance of national identification cards for voting.
The first meeting was held in Portsmouth on the night of Tuesday, August 29th.
The commission is the body responsible for the issuance and administration of the cards in Dominica.
Chairman of the Commission Gerald Burton, who addressed the meeting, said, in essence, the card, “uniquely identifies each and every voter” and it can be used for multiple purposes.
“It makes it possible for the state or for the individual to use that card for multiple purposes and I think that is an important element of this,” he stated.
He also stated that the only comparable document to the card is the passport.
“All of your information is captured, much more than your driver’s license or your social security card,” Burton explained. “The only comparable document that you have is the passport and therefore it makes it possible for the vast majority of the population, hopefully, to have a unique identity document that identifies them absolutely and makes it possible for you to use it for other purposes.”
Burton mentioned that banks, for example, often ask for identity documents and the cards can be used for that.
“Because of the nature of the system, it may well be possible for the state to decide that unique document may be used for other purposes…,” Burton stated.
He stated that although there are multiple possibilities for the card, as far as the Electoral Commission is concerned the primary focus is its use for election.
Meantime, Chief Elections Officer Stephen LaRocque said the commission plans to do the enrollment for the cards at a constituency level.
“So we will be going out to all 21 constituencies, including Roseau Central, where you have different communities…” he noted.
According to LaRocque discussions are being held with other stakeholders, more particularly the senior citizen’s organization, “to inform us and you can also inform the registering officers in your area of any individual who is unable to come to the enrollment center.”
In addition, he said the commission can accommodate senior citizens by going to their homes.
LaRocque revealed that the commission will be employing about 16 people to assist in the process of capturing information and issuing cards long before the next general election is constitutionally due.
He revealed further that the Commission is also taking a decision to do confirmation enrollment overseas in cities identified with large a Dominican population.
“At the end of their enrollment/confirmation period the names of the electors who did not show up for a card will be written to at their last known address,” he said.
He mentioned that every year the electoral office publishes a preliminary list of voters and there will be a period for claims and objections to be made in accordance with legislation.
“When that list has been published we usually give a period of one month for persons to scrutinize the list to determine: 1. That the names are correctly spelled, 2. The person’s name should be on the list, the person [is] in the correct polling district, constituency and the information that is on the list for that person is, in fact, correct and accurate,” LaRocque remarked.
He said in keeping with all the international best practices, provisions are being made for the card to be used at election time and the card shall be made mandatory for voting at elections in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
“If for whatever reason you don’t have your card on polling day, whether it has been lost, stolen, damaged…we have hand-held devices similar to the size of a smartphone that once your finger print is placed on it; it can identify who you are,” LaRocque explained.
He said the cards will be mandatory but if someone doesn’t have it for whatever reason, there are provisions to take an oath as to why their card cannot be produced, “but according to the Constitution and the laws of Dominica, once your name is on the list you have the opportunity to vote.”
mr. Burton should relax and act strictly within his mandate as stipulated by law. The constitution makes no mention of confirmation or re-confirmation of votes. It speaks of registration. He should remember that he should ignore any directives coming from outside his own commission. He must ignore any such attempts to influence his commission. The law is clear. They must act independently regardless of any wishes of a sitting government, the President, or anyone else for that matter. Stick to the law Mr. Burton and your conscience will be clear. You don’t owe anyone allegiance in this except the constitution. It is that simple.
We nust never forget that it was that same Chief elections Officer as well as the Chairman of the Electoral commission who boasted that national ID cards would be ready for the 2014 elections.. Larocque and Burton, where are those Cards? In fact the electoral Commission would acting against what it originally recommended, VOTER ID CARDS. The evidence and facts are recorded and there for all Dominicans to read.
Whose foo;s are Dominicans? The Chairman of the Commission even arrogantly stating, in the first meeting at Portsmouth, that the specific Voter ID cards that the people and the election observers have been pleading for for Years could be called the Sisserou cards or whatever. What arrogance !!
Dominicans, since Tony Astaphan put a spoke in the wheel of the Electoral Commission’s recommendations for Voter ID Cards, the Commission under Burton as Chair seem to be making sure that electoral reforms are a no-no. That would prevent Skerritt from winning.
STAND UP
“but according to the Constitution and the laws of Dominica, once your name is on the list you have the opportunity to vote.” yes every country has this law but one still can’t go to vote without proper ID. Are Dominicans living outside the island entitled to get one so we can return to vote not the like before where anyone who is a labourite get a ticket to fly down to vote?
Finger printing for voter ID cards? I wonder fraud you guys are cooking up dere…
Stephen and Gerald, I don’t care how you are twisting and turning to try and serve two masters. I will never accept people voting for my destiny that do not obey the existing laws. There is no need to amend the law to make illegal things legal. I can only die one time and am ready to defend my country against any carpet beggars, home grown or foreign because it is not worth living here otherwise.
Look at the last sentence, my question is will the issuance of a card change anything?
These two men in picture do not have any backbone. I see them as peddling what Skerrit wants and not what they know is right for the people of Dominica. SHAME ON THEM!!!!
These people are JOKERS and not men, shame on them!!!! HOPE that the people stop the bribery, treating, AND going abroad to confirm anything. This is not Labour Party electoral reform, it is Dominicans you all are representing.
SKERRIT MUST GO
SKERRIT MUST GO
SKERRIT MUST GO
Merci, merci,merci beaucoup rendez vous 2019.
Who is vendor for the Electronic Fingerprint voting systems, did they come highly recommended and how was the vendor selected?
The software and OS in these system can be compromised to provide the outcome required. Example: AV_TSX system.
It seems the reason to go outside Dominica to enroll voters is to allow for compromised software to tally these voters without them coming into Dominica to vote on election day because their fingerprint/info will be in the database already.
It is far easier to steal an election using a software engineer to compromise the software and memory information on the Digital Fingerprinting Voting system rather than issuing normal Voters ID Card.
For this to work the integrity of Electoral Commission and Vendor of the equipment has to be Extremely HIGH!!!
Rest assured our sins and the evil all u doing MUST AND WILL COME BACK to allu ……..Dominicans are crying
Can you imagine in 2017 Dominica is still TALKING about electoral reform to include Cards for voting?Did we have an electoral commission before 2017?What were they doing? Were these people not beimg pains? THESE GUYS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES,and should be called upon to repay to the treasury all monies that were paid to them.Even now they are not still singing from Skrerrits hymn book.WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME OF DOMINICAS MEN?..General election 2014 was emphatically said to be UNFAIR by the Commonweth observer team.I blame the ELECTORAL COMMISSION!Men should have balls,but these people are “balls less”.THANKS TO HILLARY and MR JAMES!In any other country General Election 2014 would have been vitiated.Dominica is a doggone FAILED STATE under DLP.
SMERRIT MUST GO
SKERRIT MUST GO
SKERRIT MUST GO NOW
Hahahahaha…hahahahaha…Awa wi..Dominicans folding like Origami with this half of a french man..this is like magic..Nobody can say NO!!..
Can any Dominican say No sir, for the sake of my country and the future of our young children as Dominicans I will choose to do the right thing..
What plans are in place to ensure that non-citizens will not be issued ID cards?
Everything is for sale in Dominica, even the truth. What version do you want? name your price!