Constitutional requirement to vote is to be registered, not to have an ID card – former GECOM Chair

As the issue of uncollected national identification (ID) cards continues, former Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally had said back in 2011 and 2015 that ID cards are not voting cards.

In fact, in an article published in the State’s newspaper Guyana Chronicle from a press conference leading up to the 2011 General and Regional Elections, Dr Surujbally had explained that the constitutional requirement to vote is being registered and not necessarily being in possession of an ID card.

At the time, the then GECOM Chairman was also talking about ‘uncollected ID cards’, revealing that persons had voted without ID cards in the 2001 and 2006 elections without being disenfranchised.
Furthermore, at polls back in 2015, there were over 35,000 identification cards still sitting at GECOM that belonged to persons registered since 2008, and Dr Surujbally had reiterated that persons would not need ID cards to vote at the May 11, 2015 elections.

This is particularly important in light of a recent decision by current GECOM Chair Retired Justice Claudette Singh to remove persons from the Official List of Electors (OLE) or Voters’ List, who have not uplifted their ID cards dating back to 2008.

According to reports, there are over 20,000 persons who have failed to uplift their ID cards.
At Tuesday’s statutory meeting, Justice Singh decided that the names of those thousands of persons will be published and they will be given 21 days to uplift their identification cards. Failure to pick up the card and verify their existence will result in them being removed from the Voters’ List – which will disenfranchise them.

However, the GECOM Chair did note that they will remain on the National Register of Registrants (NRR).
This decision is despite the fact that in Guyana, there is no requirement for someone to have an ID card to vote. In fact, it is the current GECOM Chair, Justice Singh, who in 1998, had ruled that the requirement for voters to have a voter ID card in 1997 was ultra vires Articles 59 and 159 of the Constitution (despite a parliamentary agreement to use the cards) when Esther Pereira, a People’s National Congress (PNC) supporter, petitioned the High Court to set aside the results of the 1997 elections.

However, only in August, acting Chief Justice Roxane George had ruled that persons cannot be removed from the Voters’ List unless certain criteria provided for in the Constitution are met, such as death or disqualification under Article 159 (2), (3) and (4).

Article 159 (2) states: “… a person shall be qualified to be registered as an elector for elections if, and shall not be so qualified unless, on the qualifying date, he or she is of the age of eighteen years or upwards and either – (a) is a citizen of Guyana, or (b)is a Commonwealth citizen who is not a citizen of Guyana and who is domiciled and resident in Guyana and has been so resident for a period of one year immediately preceding the qualifying date, and (c)satisfies such other qualifications as may be prescribed by or under any law”.

Subsection (3) added: “No person shall be qualified to be so registered, who on the qualifying date is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in force in Guyana”.
Meanwhile, subsection (4) of the Article says: “No person shall be qualified to be so registered if during such period (not exceeding five years) preceding the qualifying date as may be prescribed by Parliament, he or she has been convicted by a court of any offence connected with elections that is so prescribed or has been reported guilty of such an offence by the High Court in proceedings under article 163: Provided that Parliament may empower the court to exempt a person from disqualification for registration on account of such a conviction or report if the court deems it just so to do”.