Now that his client has exhausted all avenues in his ballot secrecy case, Attorney Dr. Peter Maynard said yesterday that the Constitution Commission should consider proposing an amendment to make provision for voters to cast their ballots in complete secrecy.
The Privy Council dismissed the appeal of Gladstone James McEwan in February, but only recently made known its decision.
Mr. McEwan, in his case against former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel and former Attorney General Carl Bethel, was asking the court to bar presiding officers from marking voters’ numbers on the counterfoil during voting, charging that to do so was a violation of the voter’s constitutional rights.
The case, which had the potential to alter the voting process, was first brought before the Supreme Court of The Bahamas just days before last year’s general election.
Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall granted an injunction in the first hearing. However, in a matter of hours, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision.
Following the Court of Appeal’s decision, Mr. McEwan again went before the Supreme Court. This time, he sought a decision on the merits of the case.
Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall decided on the merits that writing a voter’s number on the counterfoil of the ballot was a violation of the voter’s constitutional rights.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal again overturned the Chief Justice’s decision, reversing the decision on the merits.
Mr. Bethel, the parliamentary commissioner, said the Privy Council’s decision, affirming the decision in the Court of Appeal, means that there was nothing wrong with the presiding officer writing the voter’s registration number on the counterfoil.
“Because the [voter registration] number is on the counterfoil, I don’t know that you can say that is a violation of the voter’s constitutional rights,” Mr. Bethel said.
Dr. Maynard, however, still contends that the constitution makes provision for voters to cast their votes in secrecy and that under the present system that does not happen.
He pointed out that article 23(1) of the Constitution of The Bahamas states that “except with his consent, no person is to be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression.”
That freedom of expression, Dr. Maynard said, includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.
The possibility of having one’s vote traced to determine how he or she voted could constitute such an interference, Dr. Maynard said.
To correct what he perceives to be the constitutional violation, Dr. Maynard said he would like for two amendments to be introduced.
He said firstly he would like for the Constitution to be amended to provide an unequivocal right for persons to vote in secret by a secret ballot.
Secondly, Dr. Maynard said, the Parliamentary Elections Act 1992 and other related legislation should be amended by removing the clause requiring the presiding officer to mark the voter’s number on the counterfoil.
Mr. McEwan, meanwhile, denied comment on the Privy Council decision.
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
