Special Election Day security plan

Kearney Gomez, Elections Supervisor

Friday, April 1, 2005

Though no direct link has officially been made between the upcoming general elections and the recent increase in criminal activity in the Cayman Islands, the fact that violent shootings and murders have taken place recently is of concern to the Elections Office.

“Our main concern is that the whole voting process goes as smoothly as possible,” said Elections Supervisor, Kearney Gomez, “and as such we are in the process of working on a security plan for the day that will take into account any additional needs to be met in the face of unforseen and undesirable activity,” he added.

“We are not able to disclose the details that will be part of the plan but we are taking every eventuality into account.”

Speaking exclusively with Cayman Net News, Mr Gomez said that in the face of the type of criminal activity that has been seen throughout the islands recently, “one of my concerns is for the candidates themselves in a time like this.

We have already arranged for the police to have more of a presence at the upcoming political meetings,” Mr Gomez said.

Mr Gomez said that the Election process has measures in place to uphold its authenticity and at the same time secure the way in which the 13,000 registered electors will be able to participate in the process and effect their right to vote. He added, “We have some 300 persons involved in working on these elections. We have a system that is geared to hold up whether we have 40,000 voters or 20 million.”

Mr Gomez said that the number of people present at each polling station on Election Day will include one agent for each candidate in that district, the candidates for the districts, one presiding officer, two poll clerks, one policeman, and three highly trained field officers in an information booth at the entrance to each polling station.

“We have training video for the police and the two deputy Supervisors of Elections and I will be moving from district to district throughout the day.

“One deputy supervisor will be on Cayman Brac and I will be going over to Cayman Brac at some time on that evening,” Mr Gomez explained.

“Whereas in other countries the problem of biased behaviour on Election Day from some police officers may be a problem, this is hardly the case here where we have a virtually cosmopolitan blend of officers making up the RCIPS. As such, it is highly unlikely that we will have incidents of officers taking sides.

“Helping to secure the process further is the fact that election scrutineers are all persons from within the district. In that way, persons who may attempt to submit false documents will be identified much more quickly,” he said.

Mr Gomez explained that on hand at the Elections Office command centre will be a legal team that will be available to answer questions relating to suspicious voters.

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