147 Names Challenged, 23 Voters Removed In Cayo North Ruling
A court ruling in Cayo North is casting doubt on the integrity of the voters’ list. A magistrate has ordered 23 names removed following objections involving 147 voters. But attorney O.J. Elrington says the bigger concern is how some names, previously ordered removed in 2024, ended up back on the register. Even the Elections and Boundaries Department has acknowledged that the magistrate never approved their original inclusion. So, how did these names resurface, and what does this mean for the credibility of the electoral process? Elrington joins us by phone to explain.
On The Phone: Orson Elrington, Attorney
“Yesterday we would have Discuss the issue of the first set of persons which we would have submitted were not properly placed on the list. This is because the Honorable Magistrate Walters in 2024 had declared that these persons should be removed from the list. Despite that order, the persons were never removed from the list. The Honorable Thompson yesterday would have ordered that those persons be removed from the list and that she is indicating that they must be removed from the list before the twenty-fifth of next month. Today, what happened is that the representatives from the Election and Boundaries Department frankly and honestly confirmed the fact that the register was never signed by the magistrate for those persons, um, in the first instance for the revision period. And that in fact, the magistrate had said that she would not sign it until, and the reason provided, that they provided for the magistrate right now is that the magistrate had indicated that she would not sign it until the matter of the case stated at the High Court had been resolve; however, subsequently, regrettably, during the annual revision process, these names reappeared back on the voters list.”
The case continues tomorrow with Magistrate Sashawna Thompson expected to make a ruling on almost one hundred names being challenged from previous revisions as well as the 2026 annual revision.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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