Fifty-seven per cent turnout for special services voting

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) says 25,938 election day workers, police and military electors voted during special services voting on Friday for the general elections, representing a voter turnout of 57 per cent.

A total of 45,455 special services electors were eligible to vote.

In a media release, the EOJ says it completed sorting of the ballots cast by the special services electors for the general election and local government by-elections on Saturday.

It says, for the by-elections in the electoral divisions of Chancery Hall, Olympic Gardens and Denham Town, the overall voter turnout was 50 per cent.

The EOJ explains that during special services voting, each elector's ballot was placed into an envelope corresponding with his/her constituency and/or electoral division. The sorting of the envelopes containing ballot papers cast commenced after the close of polls.

It further states that while the Electoral Office has determined how many ballots have been received, there is no indication of how many votes each candidate has received, as the envelopes remain sealed and vaulted until the counting on election day.

The special services ballots will be transferred to the Returning Officers for the respective constituencies and deposited at pre-determined polling stations on election day.

The ballots will then be counted together with the ballots cast on September 3.

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