NAMES MISSING

By MALUM NALU and ELIZABETH VUVU
ELECTION officials around the country have been instructed to use the preliminary roll – not the updated version – to check the names of voters because it is more accurate.
Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato issued the directive yesterday after complaints from polling stations that the names of some registered voters, even those who had voted in 2012, were missing from the updated roll.
“What I’ve decided is that they (officials) can go back and use the preliminary roll,” he said.
“The preliminary roll was the first roll that we did when the claim for enrollment forms came in, and we entered data.
“After the objection period, the final roll had some issues including names not being on it.
“So I’ve decided that we go back to the preliminary roll. Where provinces are having issues with the roll, I’m asking them to use the preliminary roll.”
Gamato said the preliminary roll included names from the 2012 election but it was not a replica.
He said people should have checked their names when the rolls were displayed well before the start of polling. “To go back and start including names, no, we cannot do that.
“I think that the event (election) has taken over,” he said.
In Chimbu, provincial elections manager Reverend Tom Sine said the preliminary roll would be used as the number of ballot papers distributed corresponded to it.
In Central Bougainville, candidates petitioned the Electoral Commission office over the missing names on the electoral roll.
Election manager Desmond Timiyaso said Gamato addressed their concerns over the phone yesterday.
He said as polling started yesterday, missing names on the electoral roll was an issue faced in Central, North and South Bougainville.
In New Ireland, polling was marred by people querying about their names missing from the common roll.
Kavieng assistant returning officer Yuyu Lasbut said they expected the issue of missing names to come up at the various polling stations.
Polling in Namatanai district also started yesterday.
Governor Sir Julius Chan and Lady Stella Chan cast their votes at Himau village in Namatanai.