But while these 2 courts grapple with the Special Agreement lawsuit, Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai finds herself trying to put out a fire at the Elections and Boundaries Department. A registering officer has accused her of playing politics to break regulations so that a well-known UDP could have made it on the list of voters in time for the ICJ referendum. She has additionally accused the Chief of victimizing her for refusing to follow that directive.
We've seen a letter dated April 11th, 2019 from attorney Darrell Bradley to Chief Elections Officer Tamai. In it, he states that he is acting on behalf of his client, Jerrylyn Bruce, a registering officer who has worked at the Elections and Boundaries Department for over 15 years. In this lawyer letter, Bradley is asking the Chief Elections Officer to reverse disciplinary action against Bruce.
The dispute is over Trevor Arthur Charles Bradley, and party insiders tell us that he is a supporter and campaigner for the UDP in the Caribbean Shores Constituency. On July 26, 2018, he went to the Elections and Boundaries to re-register as a voter in that constituency. At the time, he only brought his Social Security Card, and no other proof of Belizean citizenship. From Jerrylyn Bruce's perspective, she did everything to verify that citizenship by running a background check at the Vital Statistics Unit, but according to her, they could not. So, since he did not return with any other supporting documents, a letter informing him that he his re-registration attempt had failed was sent to him. That letter returned undelivered.
According Bruce, Trevor Bradley returned to the Elections and Boundaries Lumber Yard Office to inquire about his re-registration on March 14, 2019, and he was informed that since the Department couldn't verify his citizenship, he couldn't be re-registered. According to Bruce, Trevor Bradley produced his Belizean passport the next day. Of course, this was 3 days after the deadline to qualify for the referendum.
He would not have been able to vote in the referendum, which was scheduled for April 10th, but according to Bruce, Chief Elections Officer Tamai directed her to place him on the list of voters that could vote on that date. Bruce says that she then challenged Tamai to put that in writing, and that's allegedly when Tamai targeted her, and transferred her from the Lumber Yard Office.
Her attorney, Darrell Bradley, in his letter to Tamai, says that she did nothing wrong to be sanctioned, and she was attempting to follow regulations. He said, quote, "What was wrong was that because Mr. [Trevor] Bradley is a well-known member of the United Democratic Party, his complaint to you seemed to have been given special significance." End quote.
His letter ends, quote, "She [Miss Bruce] informed me that you assigned a junior officer to replace her to replace her, and the intent of this can only be to ensure that the Elections and Boundaries Department Office can be manipulated for political purposes" End quote.
That letter was brought up in the Senate this morning, and Here's what Senator Eamon Courtenay had to say about it:
Hon. Eamon Courtney- PUP Senator
"What was wrong was that because Mr. Bradley is a well-known member of the United Democratic Party, his complaint to you seemed to have been given special significance. Ms. Bruce informed me that you then directed her, listen to what Miss Tamai did, directed her to include his name on the list of electors for that month. So as to enable him to vote in the scheduled April 10th referendum. Mr. President, you urged us a short while ago to cite where we are getting our information from. This is from an attorney. This is written to the Chief Elections Officer and we express our concern about what is in here. A registering officer is saying she is directed by the Chief Elections Officer to register someone so that the person can vote in the elections. The letter goes further; Mr. Bradley says that his client informed me that you assigned a junior officer to replace her and the intent of this can only be to ensure that the elections and boundaries department can be manipulated for political purposes. Mr. Attorney General is shaking his head and being dismissive. Mr. Bradley, he says, sounds desperate. Yes, I am depending on a letter from Darrell Bradley because Mr. Bradley is writing on behalf of a registering officer who is revealing what is taking place in then elections and boundaries commission."
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