The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) says it completed the sorting of ballots cast by special services electors for the general election and local government by-elections last Saturday (August 30).

Active Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel, as well as Election Day workers, voted last Friday, August 29.

The exercise revealed that 25,938 Election Day Workers, police and military electors combined voted, representing a voter turnout of 57 per cent for the general election. A total of 45,455 special services electors were eligible to vote.

For the by-elections in the electoral divisions of Chancery Hall, Olympic Gardens and Denham Town, the overall voter turnout was 50 per cent.

Special service elector participation was largely consistent with the 56 per cent turnout the EOJ recorded in the 2020 general election, while both cycles show a gradual decrease from the 2016 polls, when 63 per cent voted.

During special services voting, each elector’s ballot was placed into an envelope corresponding with his/her constituency and/or electoral division. The sorting of the envelopes containing ballot papers cast commenced after the close of polls.

While the office has determined how many ballots have been received, the EOJ maintained that there is no indication of how many votes each candidate has received, as the envelopes remain sealed and vaulted until the counting on Election Day.

The special services ballots will be transferred to the returning officers for the respective constituencies and deposited at pre-determined polling stations on Election Day.

The ballots will then be counted together with the ballots cast on September 3.