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Vol. 31, Issue 19 BROOKLYN EDITION May 8-14, 2020
By Bert Wilkinson
Nine weeks after Guyanese
voted in general elections on
March 2, a complete recount
and audit of every single ballot
cast began on Wednesday with
the governing coalition saying
its claims of victory would be
vindicated and the main opposition
party appearing to be
nervous about what the exercise
could reveal.
The People’s Progressive
Party (PPP), which had been
vigorously campaigning only
for a recount in the main electoral
District Four, is arguing
that while all ballots should
be counted, authorities should
not place too much weight on
discrepancies found once ballot
boxes are opened for scrutiny.
The total recount will see
officials from the elections
commission (Gecom) comparing
the number of eligible
voters against how many
actually voted, those who were
allowed to vote without photo
identification cards or by the
mandatory sworn affirmation
and whether dead or migrated
people were recorded as having
voted. The commission
said officers will reconcile ballots
issued with ballots cast,
destroyed and stamped by presiding
officers. The officials will
also pay attention to statistical
anomalies Gecom said in the
order governing the recount
exercise.
The PPP has made it clear
that it does not favor Gecom’s
leaning towards an audit as it is
aware that the electoral system
is faulty. The coalition said an
audit will reveal the extent of
PPP ballot stuffing. The PPP
said that ballots should be simply
counted individually, votes
tallied and a winner declared.
Gecom on the other hand, said
a complete peek of what happened
on March 2 will be the
only way to determine a credible
winner as both of the two
Caribbean Life pays tribute to all nurses during Nurses Week including our Healthcare
Awardee Merle Warren, CARN Registered Nurse at Mount Sinai Beth Israel
OTP. See our special Nurses Week section Pages 17-26.
Local leaders call for federal probe
By Nelson A. King
A coalition of local elected officials
from New York and across
the country, led by New York
City Public Advocate Jumaane
D. Williams and Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams,
has called for the United States
Department of Justice’s Civil
Rights Division to investigate
government responses to the
COVID-19 crisis and determine
whether actions of executive
government leaders led to the
perpetuating and exacerbating
of racial disparities in the
impact of the pandemic.
Nearly three dozen public
officials in cities across the
country, including New York
City and localities across New
York State, Austin, Baltimore,
Chicago, Detroit, Durham,
Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and
Philadelphia sent a letter to
Assistant Attorney General for
Civil Rights Eric Dreiband on
Tuesday highlighting the growing
body of evidence of disproportionate
impact that the
COVID-19 pandemic has had
on people and communities of
more color.
They questioned whether
executive actions on all levels
Continued on Page 14 Continued on Page 14
NURSES TRIBUTE
VOTE
CHECK
BEGINS
Guyanese await final recount
of general elections
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