Guyana seeking Jamaica's assistance with voter registration system

The Guyana Electoral Commission is seeking the assistance of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) with finalising the registration process for its electors.

The ECJ says the commission has asked Jamaica for help with cross-matching the fingerprints of its newly registered electors ahead of their next general election.

Representatives from the Guyana commission visited Jamaica at the end of August to explore the prospects for the ECJ to undertake the fingerprint verification process.

The ECJ explains that similar to Jamaica, the registration process in Guyana involves cross-matching fingerprints with the database of voters to ensure there is no duplicate registration.

Cross-matching identifies voters already on the voters’ list attempting to register a second time or new voters who applied for registration at two different locations.

The ECJ notes that unlike Jamaica, Guyana has a periodic registration system where registration of electors is done during select periods.

The local electoral body says the Guyanese election management agency has collected the information for about 300,000 electors for registration during their recently concluded house-to-house enumeration exercise.

Consequently, fingerprint verification is required periodically on a much larger scale in Guyana, while Jamaica conducts cross-matching on a continuous basis.

The request for assistance comes through a continued relationship between the Jamaican and Guyanese electoral commissions.

Last year, the ECJ hosted members of its Guyanese counterparts to observe Jamaica’s elector registration technology and to explore further avenues for cooperation in other areas of the electoral process.

The ECJ is often called upon by other Caribbean territories for collaboration and assistance on the development of electoral systems.

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