Eliminating garrison voting

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Many years ago, my grand-father voted in a garrison community for the opposite side. Someone opened his ballot and the result was that my grandfather's home was firebombed.

Though in basic school, I could feel the pain in his soul as he complained to my grandmother that this was a violation of his constitutional rights, and that the Government could simply eliminate these occurrences by having constituencies (garrisons), similar to where he lived, in Cross Roads or New Kingston.

Constitutional infraction

Now, if my late grandfather, an uneducated man, could have garnered such an idea for an age-old constitutional infraction, why is it that both parties are deaf, blind and dumb in formulating a plan to eliminate this issue? The reason: it benefits them!

In order to eliminate garrison voting, Parliament should by law:

• 1. Empower the Electoral Com-mission of Jamaica to label a constituency a 'garrison'.
  
• 2. Hold general election over three days: Day One - security forces, Day Two - garrison constituencies and, Day Three - the rest of Jamaica.
  
• 3. (Grandpa's idea) Mandate that garrison-labelled constituencies vote outside their constituencies on Day Two. For example, the people of South West St Andrew would vote on Day Two at Up Park Camp. Free transportation would be offered.

I am, etc.,

Michael Brown