The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says it has registered well over 10, 000 persons who will likely become first-time voters in the near future.
The new registrants were captured during the ongoing cycle of continuous registration which commenced on March 07 and runs until May 29, 2022.
But Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward told the News Room on Thursday that the applications of some people who applied during the 2019 House-to-House registration exercise are now cancelled.
The cancellation only deals with persons who were between the ages of 14 – 17; those persons are asked to reapply during this cycle of registration.
Ward would only say that it was a decision taken by the seven-member Commission. For persons who were registered during that period and furnished with an Identification (ID) Card, there is no need to participate in the ongoing registration exercise except for a transfer or correction to particulars on their ID card.
As of Wednesday, the PRO said a total of 26, 257 transactions were completed at registration offices across the country.
For new registrations between the ages of 14 – 17, some 9, 705 persons were registered while for persons 18 years and above a total of 10, 458 were captured.
Another 1, 189 persons requested transfers for change of addresses and 2, 324 conducted correction and change in particulars transactions.
Meanwhile, for replacement ID cards, another 2, 079 were captured and 504 persons have asked that their photographs be updated.
Ward explained that for all new registrants, after the administrative process is complete, their names are added to the National Register of Registrants database.
The names remain in the database until the time of an election when those who meet the eligibility criteria of 18 years and older will be extracted and added to the voters’ list.
Ward also believes that based on the numbers, persons are responding well.
She cautioned, however, against waiting until the final days to rush to conduct transactions.
Persons are urged to visit the registration offices responsible for their respective areas with 29 such locations spread across the 10 Administrative Regions.
The schedule for registration offices and the areas they cover can be found on GECOM’s website and on its Facebook page.
Do you blame them Ms Ward?