ABEC officer dismisses man’s claims of having voted twice in previous election as ‘ludicrous,’ saying it is virtually impossible

8

“Ludicrous” is the word being used by Ian Hughes to describe the allegations of a caller who, on Tuesday night, January 10, told a radio host he had voted in two separate constituencies in a previous election.

The man claimed to have transferred from one constituency to the other and said that, until recently, requests to have his name removed from the voters list where he no longer resided were futile.

He claimed he had tested the system by voting in one constituency and then removing the ink from his finger and going to another constituency to vote.

But Hughes, the human resource and training officer with the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC), says the man’s allegations are absurd, explaining that the ink into which a voter dips his finger after voting is not so easily removed.

In fact, Hughes says, ABEC has been threatened with lawsuits by several persons who claim that the ink stayed on their fingers for a long period of time.

Hughes is adamant that there is no way a person’s name can appear on the Register without the Electoral Commission or the respective political parties picking it up, since the list is gone through with a fine-tooth comb.

He says ABEC’s database and that of the political parties would instantly “flag” any name appearing on more than one register. Even the database within the registration units, Hughes says, would catch the error.

Therefore, according to the Commission’s officer, what is being claimed is virtually impossible and must be a figment of the man’s imagination.

If inquiries prove that the man is making up these claims, he could face summary charges, Hughes says.  The offender could also risk being unable to vote for several years after being placed on the Illegal Practice List, which is contained in the Illegal Practice Act.

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]

8 COMMENTS

  1. What the electoral commission is saying is understood. It should be against the laws of the country to vote twice and this person has admitted to doing so. Apart from what the commission maintains in this situation, this person should be taken into police custody so that he or she can provide more details of his or her infraction.

  2. “He claimed he had tested the system by voting in one constituency and then removing the ink from his finger and going to another constituency to vote.”

    Bull f’ing shit!!! So clearly you just admitted to committing voter’s fraud. First of all you lied when you call in and you should’ve been made to offer proof and then arrested.

  3. This officer is so naive.
    It appears that he is so happy to be where he is, he could not even see that the position he was to assume was ripped away from his grasp because the powers that be want a certain outcome. So what did they do? They sidelined him and brought back Old Faithful.

    Grow up, guy. You are either playing you don’t know what’s going on, or you are biding your time. Either way, you will be the loser.

  4. This is possible because in 1994 I voted Twice..I lived in city west then Transfered to Another constituency and my name was never removed from city west voters list.it was after I voted twice I went to the office to report my name was on two voters list.I voted once in the morning in city west and after work I went to vote at the other location without any problem because I cleaned that ink from my hand

    • I have voted three times in my life and it took me days to get the ink off my finger. Tell me the trick that you used to get it off your finger in the span of minutes or hours please!

  5. The folks from ABEC wants to project this squeaky clean image but somehow I don’t think they have much of a say. How is it possible that the Hughes fellow knew nothing about the illegal Barbuda transfer? He should have been first out of the box to cry fowl,but alas, he know nada. Citizens, we are more that a few corrupt politicians desperately seeking to remain in power to avoid public scrutiny. All the darkness that has shadowed our land must be conquered by the light. Onwards to January 18th

Comments are closed.