AT least one police officer who showed up ready to exercise his franchise yesterday — the day reserved for members of the security forces and election day workers — was disappointed because his name was not on the voters’ list.

The constable, who was among the dozens of law enforcers who showed up at the Greater Portmore Police Station in St Catherine Southern, was turned away due to a set of challenges unique to him, though Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) officials have said the issue of showing up to vote and not being allowed to do so was not a novel one.

“I was on suspension for 12 years, so two elections passed since I was on suspension. So apparently that is what changed the location, because this was where I used to vote… I was enumerated in Hellshire.

“It is as a result of the situation, it was not just that I was suspended. I was also dismissed,” the lawman, who opted not to disclose the reason for his suspension and dismissal, told the Jamaica Observer.

Asked if his dismissal involved a tragedy, he said: “In a sense, it’s just another situation happen and we happen to deal with it, and when you dealing with this work situations do arise, and as a result you have to take charge and deal with situations. If whatever transpires, people are not able to deal with it, then you have to go through certain procedures and let justice take its course. As a result of that, you go through the normal channels and whatever the outcome is, and whatever time it takes, then you know.”

The police constable, who said he had spent close to six years behind bars before a successful legal challenge that saw his sentence and conviction being overturned and him being compensated, said he had made his way to the station with the expectation that he would have been able to exercise his constitutional right to vote.

Following checks with the EOJ, the constable found out he was registered to vote as a civilian.

When asked if he was still “determined to vote”, he said: “It’s your right, and as a result you want to execute it; it’s not a privilege. I’m trying to pull myself back together.”

Though disappointed, the police constable had no harsh words about the electoral process.

“These things happen when you are out of the system for a while. It’s not like it was regular suspension, I was also dismissed, so as a result of that the high command would send me in as a civilian. So, just to verify and go through the regular channels, that means I will have less obstacles on Thursday.

“Expect the unexpected at all times. Like how mi know this now, mi give mi sub-officer prior notice, [and] execute mi constitutional rights. Thursday now mi know just where to go seal the deal… if mi feel like, because mi don’t see weh mi a vote for right yah now. Mi nuh si di prosperity,” he told the Observer.

The cop, who told the Observer that he had just returned to his post since June, said the voting mishap was not the only result of the time he had lost.

“I have to go back to [police] training school now, do a refresher’s course. A lot of changes have taken place. I’m not used to these guns; the firearms changed that we used to use, you have to re-qualify to handle these firearms… It’s best for you and everyone. I was in the force 13 years before [the suspension and dismissal]. I was out for 12 years. A just life,” he told the Observer.

“For him to be registered to vote as an officer, the [police] high command would have to send his name to us. We don’t know who is an officer and who isn’t. Some persons leave the force, some migrate, so the high command has to send us. It happens, it is not unique,” an official at the EOJ said yesterday.

The representative, however, said they were unable to, at that time, state the number of individuals who had been turned away from the polls yesterday for one reason or other.

For the most part, however, voting in the divisions visited by this reporter proceeded without hiccups.

Two smiling lawmen were the first to greet the Observer team upon arrival to Greater Portmore Police Station in St Catherine Southern, which was one of three polling stations in that area.

“We did the right thing already, you coming to do your own?” one of the two, who were on the outside of the building, declared cordially, showing their inky fingers

Clearly enjoying the moment, one of the cops, in answering his phone, told the caller: “We did the right thing!”

On the inside, another lawman exiting the voting area prodded colleagues on the outside, jokingly: “Come do the right thing, yuh muss make an X.”

An electoral supervisor, when asked about the conduct of the polls, said: “It has been very good, not necessarily a flow, not a trickle either, it’s even. No violations, everybody has been good, everybody is observing protocol.”

It was a similar report over at Marine Park Community Centre in Naggo Head, where election day workers were casting their ballots.

“Voting has been going well, the morning was busy, it has tapered off, all our stations opened on time. We are progressing,” Joy Howard, assistant returning officer for St Catherine Southern, told the Observer yesterday, adding that individuals were observing the various rules.

At the Twickenham Park Police Academy in St Catherine Eastern, voting moved apace at the location which housed 10 polling divisions.

“It was heavier earlier; it has slowed down now,” Supervisor Chevelle Behari told the Observer, noting officers voting at the location had done so in an orderly fashion.

A total 31,084 election day workers, 11,512 police officers, and 4,181 soldiers were set to cast their votes yesterday.

Under the Representation of the People Act, provisions are made for military and police personnel, as well as election day workers, to vote three days before the rest of the population, to ensure that they are available for duty on election day.

Their names have been separated from the official voters’ list to be used on Thursday. The ballots will later be sorted and transferred to the respective returning officers to be counted on September 3.