A petition to the Privy Council that involved the placement of numbers on election ballot counterfoils was dismissed in a Feb. 27 ruling.
The petition of Gladstone James McEwan was taken to the Privy Council after Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall’s ruling restraining presiding officers from recording voters’ numbers on their ballot counterfoils was struck down by the Court of Appeal on April 29, 2002.
On May 1, 2002, the Court of Appeal ruled against the Chief Justice’s restraint, just one day before the May 2, General Election, in a highly publicized case.
Mr. McEwan took issue with recording the voter’s number on the back of the ballot paper, which he said, compromised the secrecy of the ballot process.
Respondents in the proceedings at that time were former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Errol Bethel, the parliamentary commissioner and the attorney general.
The Nassau Guardian
