KINGSTON, Jamaica – A large number of voters at the Mona High School looked on as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Andrew Holness voted this morning.

Holness, who was scheduled to vote at 7:00 am arrived nearly an hour later, but had a fairly good excuse as two failed Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Issuing System (EVIBIS) voter identification machines in his West Central St. Andrew constituency held his attention as he and his wife, Juliet, entered the school building to vote.

“It is very serious, because it does delay voting and, if that it is the case, they will have to remove the equipment and revert to the normal voting procedures,” Holness said after voting.

The Opposition leader was obviously buoyed by the large turnout of voters at the Mona High School and spoke to it prior to entering his PD 35 to cast his vote.

“You are going to see a far more energised Jamaica Labour Party base than in 2011 because our members have been motivated by the issues we have raised in our campaign,” he said confidently.

He was also pleased with the turnout of young voters at the cluster, where more than half the people voting up to that time were youths.

“This is because we have been disciplined in our messages and we have offered credible alternatives,” he commented.

Holness spoke with the media prior to and after voting, and had to settle issues which arose when press photographers demanded that they be allowed into the room to snap him after he had voted.

Streams of JLP and People’s National Party (PNP) outdoor agents assisted voters searching for their Polling Divisions (PDs).The clustered PDs were filled with voters waiting patiently and suggesting huge turnout of voters, or voters determined to cast their ballots early and return home.

The Opposition leader then left for his St Andrew West Central constituency, where he was summoned to deal with the issues created by the broken down voter identification machines.

Balford Henry