Special voting begins—10 vote in quarantine

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Special voting for those in quarantine was completed yesterday and 10 quarantined people who were eligible to vote, did so.

A total of 54 people who had been in quarantine had applied for special voters’ status by the July 17 deadline for such voters. But only 10 voted yesterday since the other 44 have been released from quarantine already.

Those 44 who are out of quarantine will be able to vote as special voters this week, Elections and Boundaries Commission Chief Election Officer Fern Narcis-Scope added yesterday.

Special voting began yesterday for people who will be unable to vote on election day. Voting continues until 3 pm on Sunday ahead of Monday’s general election.

The number of special voters for this election is 21,565.

The total electorate in the revised voters’ list for the upcoming election is 1,134,136.

After the election was called the EBC had made it clear that people in quarantine would not be disenfranchised. EBC had informed the Chief Medical Officer that the Commission intended to allow people who are in quarantine the opportunity to vote, as special electors. Arrangements were made for special polling stations to be set up in any quarantine facility during the special voting period for such people.

Yesterday Narcis-Scope said people who wished to be special voters had applied to the EBC up to the deadline of July 17.

As such people who entered T&T after July 17 and were quarantined would not have had an opportunity to be a special voter.

Narcis-Scope said that of the number of people who were quarantined, only a total of 54 applied to be special electors.

“By the time special voting began, of the 54 who were quarantined, 44 had emerged from that status. So only the remaining number – a total of 10 people – voted (yesterday),” she added.

She said that covered all of those in quarantine who’d applied to be special voters.

The other 44 who still hold special voter status can vote up to Sunday at Returning Officers’ locations as other special voters are doing.

Yesterday several people who were recently quarantined for the mandatory two-week COVID quarantine period contacted Guardian Media on whether or how they might be able to vote. But such persons were quarantined after the July 17 deadline to apply as special voters and as such would be unable to. The Health Ministry yesterday confirmed 106 people are currently in quarantine.