The Prime Minister was at the time speaking on the site of the old Government Printery Building today (April 2nd) after receiving information that a ballot box from the North Windward constituency was found out of the secured area at another part of the Printery Building.

According to Dr. Gonsalves he was informed that a ballot box was found by some youths and that the count was the same as of the night of the elections. He noted that the ballot boxes are secured at the Printery Building but the issue of the custody of ballot boxes is not a matter for any government but the Supervisor of Elections.

He said the Law imposes on the Supervisor of Elections that he should keep all boxes secured and may be destroyed them after 12 months. The Prime Minister described the incident as either negligence on the part of the custodians or worse by somebody who have access to the boxes. He said if this happens it is an act of malaise and mischief.

Dr. Gonsalves said the storage facility should be more secure than it is. The Ballot box in question is in the custody of the Police and according to Superintendent of Police (Ag) Erkon Lockhart there were no sign of forced entry and they are investigating the matter.

Supervisor of Elections, Rodney Adams said because of the increased number of polling stations in the last general election there were more boxes and the same storage space, so some of the boxes had to be kept at the Electoral Office and the others at the Printery Building. According to Adams the ballot box in question came from polling station B in the North Windward constituency, at the Owia Government School. A count of the ballots showed a tally of 189 for the New Democratic Party, 90 for the Unity Labour Party and 0 for the Green Party. This he said corresponds with what they had recorded at the preliminary and final count of the elections.

Adams is wondering how the box was removed when they have security at the building.