Philipsburg:--- The main voting bureau has decided to stop the recounting of the ballots that was casted on Friday September 17th saying that the recount will not make any significant difference to the outcome of the election.The decision to halt the recount was taken on Tuesday night after the members of the main voting bureau made their concerns known. Ever since Monday when Frans Richardson made the request the members of the main voting bureau were overheard grumbling saying the request to recount all the ballots was unnecessary and a waste of tax payers monies.
On Tuesday Richardson was asked to waive his decision by the main voting bureau who said they can check the ballots of the districts that raises concern but Richardson said he wanted a total recount and that his request was not based on him losing or gaining votes. He said already the recounted has shown that there were lots of mistakes and that people who were not elected could have gotten into office. Richardson said a number of people have been complaining and when asked if a recount was ever done he was told that the main voting bureau has never taken on such an exercise. Richardson said this is outrageous and if St. Maarten wants to do things right they would have to start now and not continue with their old ways of doing business. Furthermore, the law gives citizens the right to request a recount and also gives the main voting bureau the right to over-rule the request of the citizen.
"When the ballots were being recounted we saw a number of inconsistencies and mistakes that were made, ballots that were counted as invalid were in fact valid votes at the different polling stations. In one district seven votes were given to the wrong candidate while in another district there was one case 30 votes were given to the wrong candidate. Also in the Cole Bay area a number of votes belonging to the National Alliance were not even counted." Richardson said that the decision taken by the main voting bureau is rather unfortunate because there was about five or six more districts that had to be recounted and it is his belief that the recount would not be in favor of those conducting the recount. He said this is the first time in history a recount was requested based on the law.
Also expressing displeasure at the decision taken by the main voting bureau Louie Laveist, Laveist said that stopping the total recount is a violation of the democratic rights of the voters who participated in the election.
The island council man said a recount was requested and in his opinion that is what should have been given to the people of St. Maarten. He said the main voting bureau should not be the ones to decide whether or not they would continue with the recount. Laveist said he was informed that because of the recount a candidate that participated in the election now has an opportunity of becoming a parliamentarian and for him that makes a huge difference for that person.
In an invited comment the chairman of the main voting bureau Reynold Groenevedt said that the recount was not stopped. He said those districts where a total recount was not done the blank and invalid votes were checked. Groeneveldt said the law states that while a citizen and voter can ask for the recount the main voting bureau can decide whether or not to grant the request.
Furthermore, the chairman explained that the case of Jesus Richardson and Octavio was identified since Friday evening based on the process verbal and that is not something that was identified through the recount. Groeneveldt said while Richardson said his reason to ask for the recount was based on the amount of invalid votes two other candidates Silveria Jacobs and Leona Marlin indicated to the main voting bureau that there might have been problems at the Belvedere Community Center, Charles Leopold Bell School and the Melford Hazel Community Center and the members of the main voting bureau counted the ballots from those districts ballot by ballot.Groeneveldt said he also intends to send an advice to the main voting bureau for future elections because they need to train and regulate the system better so that it can function better. Groeneveldt said it is his opinion that those people who began working from 6am and sat in those polling stations all day until 7pm when the polling stations closed should not be the ones counting the ballots. The main voting bureau needed to have fresh people who are not tired from a long day of work."It is unfair to those people who worked all day to count the ballots they are tired and obviously rushed the matter to get out of the polling stations."
The chairman said those persons who are not happy with the decision taken can take their concerns before the judge for further satisfaction.
Furthermore the ballot by ballot count is stalling the process the chairman said. He said letters have to be sent out to those persons who were elected so that they can get their credentials together so it can be validated before they are sworn in on October 5th.
