No special treatment for seniors, disabled; it would be too costly, says EOJ
Published:Sunday | January 1, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter
Exercising their democratic right to vote on election day was not easy for scores of elderly and infirm Jamaicans. Many were forced to go up several flights of stairs or brave steep inclines. The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) says, however, that easing that burden by having special lines for senior citizens at polling stations would be too costly.
Orrette Fisher, director of elections, said implementing these special lines, which are used by banks as a courtesy to the elderly, would double the number of election-day workers because ballots are polling-station specific.
"My solution is that we allow elderly persons, heavily pregnant women and, in some cases, the disabled - depending on the disability- to go to the front of the line. We owe that to them," said Fisher.
The challenges to the elderly were noticed at several polling stations last Thursday and at least one elderly woman was seen waiting to cast her vote.
Miriam Campbell, who told our news team that she will be 80 in February, was spotted sitting on a concrete corridor at the José Martí High School in the St Catherine Eastern constituency. But the wait was not as tough for the elderly woman because she came prepared. Campbell brought her cushion to sit on, three peeled oranges and a sweet popcorn to munch. All of this was wrapped neatly in a white plastic bag. Campbell believes the state should have a special senior citizens' line at polling stations, along with benches for them to sit on.
First-come, first-serve basis
Inspector Rohan Elliot of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, who was helping to provide security at the polling station, agreed that providing chairs for the elderly while they wait to vote is a good idea.
"Perhaps they could provide chairs, but the voting system in Jamaica is a 'first-come, first-serve' one and, in my short time in the organisation, that's how it has been," he said.
At the White Marl Primary and Junior High School in the same constituency, 75-year-old Jezreen Daley lamented that it was difficult contending with the young folks to cast her ballot. "They want to push us down and push us away," she bemoaned. Daley joined the call for the EOJ to have a special line for the elderly.
Things were not always orderly, as voters, driven by impatience and delays in the process, pushed and shoved to make it into the small batches that were being allowed entry to the polling stations at any one time.
Dorris Virgo, 87, also chimed in on the chorus. "Yes, they should have a special line for the older ones because we can't manage the wait," she told our news team.
Edna Higgins, a 70-year-old who uses a walker, had to struggle up a steep incline at the school to reach the polling station and cast her vote. It was difficult to watch. But Higgins, who complained of having pain in her legs, said it was a small price to pay for her democratic right.
"It's for a cause," she said, managing to muster a smile.
Horace Ledgister, an amputee, could not make the journey up the steep incline in one go. He had to stop to take breaths.
"This a young people ting. Lawd Massa God. If mi did know, mi wouldn't come," he lamented.
This was his seventh stop during a walk that did not seem more than a hundred metres. But the incline posed a challenge for able-bodied persons as well. "Mi never expect this ya breed of hill at all," said Ledgister, who previously voted in South West St Andrew. "No provision for the disabled. It should never be like that," he argued.
The EOJ's Fisher said the difficulty experienced by the disabled to access polling stations is a national issue because the buildings used for elections should be built to facilitate persons with disabilities as many of them are owned by the government.
"It cannot be left up to the EOJ to deal with it. We use these buildings once every five years," he said, while questioning if the country's building codes addressed matters of this nature. "It is a national issue. When you go to any public building, it (facilities for the disabled) should be there," said Fisher.
He told The Sunday Gleaner that the EOJ's head office on Duke Street in Kingston was recently retrofitted to accommodate disabled Jamaicans, and he believes the owners of the buildings used on election day should do the same.