$87.4 million spent to import ballot paper for last four elections

It cost the country $87.4 million to import special templates to print ballots for the last four elections, $53.7 million of which have gone down the drain because a high percentage of Jamaicans continue to shun their democratic right to vote.

The revelation was gleaned from data provided by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) and has refreshed concerns about the implications of voter apathy, as well as the need to modernise Jamaica’s voting system.

Since 2016, Jamaica has held four elections – two national and two local – which have seen an average 30 per cent voter turnout of the just over two million eligible voters.

According to EOJ data, a total of 8.3 million blank templates were imported to print ballots for the four elections. And of the eight million ballots printed, only approximately 2.3 million were used. Which means some 5.1 million ballots had to be discarded.

Blank ballots or templates are made from unique “security paper” that has to be imported. The material has specific colour schemes, which are not revealed until election day. Candidates’ names and constituency details are printed on them after nomination. For security purposes, the unused ones are destroyed.

“The numbers reveal that an estimated 61.4 per cent of the total import cost for those blank ballots are unused or have been wasted,” noted mathematician Lance McFarlane, who examined the data.

“Even though we were not provided the cost for printing the ballots, we must also note that 63.8 per cent of the printed ballots were wasted or not used by voters. So we can also assume that 63.8 per cent of the cost of printing those unused ballots was also wasted.”

He added that, “Based on what they (EOJ) presented, it would mean that they would have 300,000 ballots (templates) remaining from what they bought still in storage from that time that is not printed on.”

From 2016 to 2020, there was also a steep rise in the importation costs for the ballots.

“Another important thing the data show is that the cost of imported ballots have gone up significantly from 2016. In 2016, $15.9 million could have imported 1.9 million ballots for the general election; whereas in 2020, we got 2.2 million ballots, and the cost went all the way up to $26.7 million,” the noted mathematician explained to The Sunday Gleaner.

“And if you look at the recent 2024 local government elections, the same 2.2 million ballots imported was so much more than 2016, at $28.1 million.”

BALLOTS FOR EVERYONE

ON VOTERS’ LIST

Director of Elections Glasspole Brown explained that in spite of the declining voting trend over the years, they have to provide ballots for every eligible voter. It is also customary to print more ballots than needed, which includes substitutes for voters who may make a mistake and need a new one.

“You have to print under the assumption that you will have a full turnout, and we tend to purchase a little more so that we don’t run short because of the provision in the law that allows the prime minister to call an election whenever he so desires,” Brown shared with The Sunday Gleaner.

He attributed inflation to the growing cost of importing blank ballots.

“The volume would have gone up, and the exchange rate changed due to inflation and the shipping costs,” he said.

In addition to purchase costs, printed ballots attract additional expenses for things such as ink and labour, figures for which were not readily available.

“Other expenses incurred include manpower used to print the ballots, and for auditors who supervise the process. There is also a cost for transportation of staff. All these would have to be considered if I was to give every single item that goes into printing a particular ballot,” Brown noted.

NEED TO MODERNISE

VOTING SYSTEM

Last week, one environmentalist shuddered at the cost to produce physical ballots, which she said highlighted the need for Jamaica to modernise its voting system.

Not only is the Government losing money to produce these paper ballots, but it is also polluting the environment, Dawn Anderson argued.

“I went to vote the other day and was shocked at the amount of paper being used, not just for the ballots alone, but overall, including the lists with the names of voters and so on. If we are using up all this paper, it means we are cutting down more trees, and I don’t know if this ballot paper is recyclable, which is another concern,” she noted.

“If I can go on the EOJ’s website and find my name as one of the voters, why is it that the system does not allow it to go further with regard to voting?” Anderson asked.

She noted that more younger voters would be drawn to the electoral process if the country implemented an electronic system, which includes remote voting.

Several countries across the world have moved to electronic voting. Using voters’ biometric data, e-voting cuts down on the use of paper ballots.

In 2020, then Attorney General, Marlene Malahoo Forte, promised that Jamaicans would be able to cast their vote remotely by the next general election, due in September 2025.

“What the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, (is) we will have to sit down and look very quickly before the next set of elections are called about how to make options available to voters,” she said, voicing concerns mirrored by Opposition member Dr Andre Haughton.

“It is time for Jamaica to become modern. I think that now electronic voting should come into play and I think that now there should be a way for you to vote anywhere you are in the country for the respective member of parliament that you want,” Haughton told reporters at that time.

JAMAICA NOT READY FOR E-VOTING

In 2003, Jamaica began the move towards digitising its electoral system when it piloted the Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System (EVIBIS). Under the improved programme now called the Electronic Voter Identification System (EVIS), registered electors can be identified and verified at polling stations by using their fingerprints. After which they are issued a ballot to vote.

But the country is yet to move to electronic voting. And according to Orrette Fisher, Jamaica’s former election boss, now a consultant on electoral matters to several countries worldwide, the country is nowhere near ready for e-voting.

In fact, he noted, electronic voting machines alone would cost far more than importing ballot templates.

“Electronic voting has been something that has been discussed extensively over the years but there are a number of reasons why people would not want to go that route,” Fisher shared with The Sunday Gleaner.

“For one, there is the trust factor. There was a study that showed that a machine could be programmed where one in every three votes goes to a particular candidate. So it would have to be proven that the people’s vote goes exactly where they want it to go. With all the scamming, a lot of people don’t trust that.”

“Second, the cost would be humongous. You will have to deal with the life cycles of those voting machines and their replacement. They wouldn’t last forever. And those would be much more expensive than the ballot paper, I can assure you!” he stressed.

He also noted the challenge the EOJ would face to deliver and use electronic voting machines in some remote polling stations across Jamaica that do not have internet access.

As it relates to the idea of voting remotely, Fisher admits that that option may be more appealing to the younger generation, “but the difficulty with that is that your vote is supposed to be secret and the electoral office has to know that you are the one casting the vote, and that it is able to control any sort of intimidation that a voter may experience while voting.”

A WAY OF PROTEST

In the meantime, as stakeholders ponder how to convince the vast majority of the over two million electors to mark their ‘X’ on the costly ballots provided for them, social policy researcher and analyst Carol Narcisse shared that voter apathy will continue to be a challenge the country faces because of the low level of trust, interest and satisfaction many feel.

“And it may not even be apathy; it may be people’s way of a kind of protest,” she reasoned with The Sunday Gleaner.

“I think it is a passive way to register their dissatisfaction by not exercising a vote for either party. There is also a sizable number of people who have just lost faith and trust that it makes sense to vote because they have not seen the results of their voting.”

“It is a signal for a renewal of our political parties, and for a different kind and quality of political representation. That is what will energise people to go to the polls,” Narcisse shared.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com