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Distribution of Voters ID's Commences
posted (March 1, 2019)

And keeping it on elections, we asked the Chief Elections Officer about those voter's identification cards that have been delayed for some time now.

As we reported, the Department said last week that the first tranche of ID cards is ready, and that they would start distributing them today. Â  The first one we've seen is from UDP Chairman Alberto August - he posted it on Facebook.  

Chief Elections officer Tamai told us that they're on schedule to deliver the cards to voters who re-registered in July of last year:

Josephine Tamai - Chief Elections Officer
"The distribution started to day for those persons who were approved for the month of July. We're phasing it in, and we also made an announcement whereby we said that we're going to get dates to go into villages to distribute those ID cards. We also had proposed in terms of having ID cards at the polling stations on Referendum Day for persons who have not gotten an opportunity to pick up their ID cards. I guess you all would have heard in there that some persons were saying, but why issue ID cards on Referendum Day. They don't believe that that should happen. Like I said, that is a matter that I will take back to the Elections and Boundaries Commission for a decision to be taken. Personally, I believe that we should not ID cards similar to what we got before because we have thousands and thousands of cards that people don't bother to pick up. Going out to those polling stations, it's not mandatory for these persons to pick up their cards, but it's just there to facilitate those persons. It's up to them because you can vote with or without your ID card."

The Chief Elections Officer assures the public that as soon as the cards are ready for the voters who registered after July, they will start to distribute them. There is still that plan to hand out the rest of them on referendum day.

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