By John Denny Observer Reporter
(Charlestown, Nevis) ” One day after the original deadline for reconfirmation had passed, officials announced the reconfirmation period had been extended. The new deadline is Saturday, Oct. 4. The offices will be open until 1 p.m. The line cutoff time is 12 p.m., according to office manager Oliver Knight. On Tuesday, throngs of potential voters turned out to reconfirm their voting status at the Electoral Office in Charlestown. Many of the prospective voters were unhappy with the lack of process, procedure and general organization at the office. This was compounded Monday by intermittent showers. The office alleviated some of the voter’s frustrations on Tuesday by erecting tents and providing chairs to those waiting. One of the suggestions in the crowd was to have a list of the proper documentation needed outside the office so that voters would not have to wait through the line more than once. Another suggestion was to extend the deadline. A reoccurring sentiment in the crowd was that the Electoral Office was playing partisan politics “If they think you aren’t going to vote for their party, they make it harder, sending you away to get this thing or that,” said one upset voter. “They don’t treat everyone the same and it’s not right.” Most qualified voters of Nevis did not wait until the last week to reconfirm. “I did it a few months ago and it was very simple,” said another man. “There was no line and it only took a few minutes. I just came here today giving someone a ride and I”m glad I”m not waiting in that line, but lots of us wait until the last minute to do things” it’s Nevis.” Political operatives have been busy over the past couple of weeks getting people reconfirmed, reminding voters through calls and text messaging and also by arranging rides to the electoral office. Last week, Concerned Citizens Movement opposition members Vance Amory and Mark Brantley both called for the resignation of the Supervisor of Elections Leroy Benjamin and his assistant on Nevis, Beulah Mills, after an inordinate amount of voters appeared on the roster in the Nevis 9 district in what the opposition deemed either corruption or incompetence. Mr. Brantley had the sharpest of words for the electoral officials. “As a member of CCM, we have registered new people; all political parties do that, but there is no conceivable way short of massive fraud conducted with the indulgence of electoral officials that 360 new people could emerge in District Nine – more than any other constituency in St. Kitts or Nevis “Indeed, more than the whole of St. Georges/Gingerland, St. Thomas and St. James in Nevis combined. These numbers come against the backdrop of constant complaints to the good Pastor about the shenanigans in the electoral office in Nevis. If he sees these numbers and he seeks to defend them, then the Pastor has to go. If he sees these numbers and they do not raise a red flag, then the Pastor has lost the moral compass for this job of sacred trust,” Brantley said.
