Jamaica Gleaner – Westmoreland Eastern Member of Parliament-elect Luther Buchanan is alleging that two persons voted under the same name at a polling station in the constituency on election day.
After the preliminary count last Thursday, the Jamaica Labour Party’s Daniel Lawrence was declared the winner by eight votes.
However, at the end of the official count on the weekend, there was a tie which was broken by the returning officer who cast the deciding vote in favour of Buchanan, the People’s National Party incumbent.
The JLP has since filed for a magisterial recount, which is expected to get under way on Friday.
Buchanan said his attorney Maurice McCurdy advised him that the voting irregularity was discovered on the examination of the polling book on Sunday morning.
The MP-elect said he has since given the attorney certain instructions, but declined to provide details.
Meanwhile, McCurdy told The Gleaner that both of the voters used IDs, under a name that appeared only once in the polling division.
It is reported that there was an objection to the first voter who appeared with a voters’ ID that did not match the one in the black book, however, he was still allowed to vote.
Later in the day, another person with the same name turned up to vote at the polling division, and that person’s ID reportedly matched the one in the black book.
Contacted, Director of Elections Glasspole Brown said he had not been briefed by the returning officer of any such issue.
However, he said such a matter could be dealt with by the Resident Magistrate during the magisterial recount.
