Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

Walker

New applicants, numbering 31,571, have been registered as at March 24, to get their names on the May 31 voters' list.

The Electoral Office of Jamaica's (EOJ) one-day extended deadline for persons to be added to the May 31 voters' list expires today.

Assistant director in charge of field operations at the EOJ, Earl Simpson, told The Gleaner yesterday that another 6,426 persons, who were registered but could not be found during the reverification exercise last year, have come forward.

"Once their residences have been verified we will add (their names) to the voters' list so we have a total of 37,997," he said.

More than 1.3 million people are on the current voters' list.

The EOJ is conducting an ongoing exercise to remove the names of deceased persons from the list.

"We have a system in place that, once we have identified those electors who have died, and verify that they have died, we take them off (the list)," Simpson explained.

Proof of age

Meanwhile, in the wake of reports that persons below 18 years old are attempting to get registered, the EOJ has proposed that the Government introduce laws to make it mandatory for potential voters to provide proof of age and identity for enumeration.

In a release on Thursday, Director of Elections, Danville Walker, revealed that underage persons were trying to get enumerated.

He warned that persons involved in this practice would be prosecuted, as this was a breach of the Representation of the People Act.