#JAVOTES2024 | Manchester man with intellectual disability happy to vote

Sueande Wallace was happy to accompany Daniel Josephs, who has Down Syndrome, to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Royal Flat, Manchester to cast his vote in the ongoing local government elections.

The 42-year-old is from Heartease in the parish.

People affected with Down syndrome often have mild to moderate intellectual disability.

This has not stopped Josephs from being politically active.

"He is from a labourite family, but he chose to support this party [People's National Party], and I notice he loves it so I decided 'well you know what he loves it and he's going so it's better we go together so I can make sure that he is safe'," Wallace told The Gleaner.

Josephs cast his vote for the PNP.

According to Wallace, who is also a supporter of the PNP, Josephs was drawn to the party because he felt included.

"The party made it inclusive, for Christmas lunch or whatever, they wouldn't leave him out because of his disability, he's a part of everything. If we have bags going out, whatever going out, he's a part of it," he said.

The incumbent, Donovan Mitchell of the PNP, won the Royal Flat division in 2016, polling 1,975 votes against the Jamaica Labour Party's Richard Delapenha, who got 1,773.

Meanwhile, officials at the McIntosh Memorial Primary School, the other polling station visited by The Gleaner in the division, reported a smooth, but slow start to voting.

However, they are optimistic that things will pick up later in the day.

- Sashana Small

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