As part of the preparations for the January 18, 2023 general elections, the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) is gearing up to start training the Election Day workers who will be tasked with managing the voting process.
Speaking on state media, spokesperson for the ABEC, Elisa Graham, shared how the recruitment process for those workers is progressing.
“Currently what we are waiting on is the writ and we anticipate that training will be taking place next year. Definitely not before the end of this year which practically ends next week Saturday. We do have a lot of persons worrying about if we did not get their applications, we have. We have over 1,000 applications for election day and we anticipate we will have approximately 180 — 185 polling stations.
“Now that is still being worked on as well and we will definitely be publishing those lists accordingly as the time goes by, but for the entire process, based on what we are seeing we would probably utilise approximately 700, 715 persons,” Graham explained.
Positions like presiding officers, poll clerks and information clerks were advertised in July by ABEC where over 300 persons applied.
The position of returning officer was previously advertised with around 25 applications submitted to date and trained.
The returning officers, according to Graham, will be tasked with training persons to fill the other positions for the various constituencies. At the end of the training, an exam will be done and based on the individual’s performance, they will be selected by the returning officer and not ABEC.
“We do have a hand in who is selected for the returning officers and they would have already done their training. The 17 officers would have already been selected so we are just waiting on the official document just to announce those names for the respective constituencies,” Graham added.
Nomination Day for the January 18 general election is scheduled for next Wednesday, December 28.
