There was 57 per cent voter turnout among special services personnel on Friday for the General Election.
Special services include police officers, military personnel, and Election Day workers. According to the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), 25,938 special services electors voted on Friday out of a total of 45,455 who were eligible to vote. In the 2020 General Election, there was a 56 per cent voter turnout by the special services electors and a 63 per cent turnout in the 2016 polls.
In a media release, the EOJ said it completed the sorting of the ballots cast by the special services electors for the general election and local government by-elections on Saturday. During special services voting, each elector’s ballot was placed into an envelope corresponding with his/her constituency and/or electoral division. The sorting of the envelopes containing ballot papers cast commenced after the close of polls.
While the Electoral Office was able to determine how many ballots were received, it was not able to say how many votes each candidate had received, as the envelopes remained sealed and vaulted until the counting on election day.
The special services ballots were transferred to the Returning Officers for the respective constituencies and deposited at predetermined polling stations on election day. The ballots were counted together with the ballots cast on September 3.
Meanwhile, for the by-elections in the electoral divisions of Chancery Hall, Olympic Gardens and Denham Town, the overall voter turnout was 50 per cent.
