Three candidates protest over voting irregularities, missing ballots
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The recent Bahamas Union of Teachers election that saw incumbent president Belinda Wilson return to the helm for a sixth consecutive run will not be certified until an investigation into a number of alleged irregularities is completed.
In a memorandum to all members, Wilson advised members that the Registrar of Trade Unions had launched an investigation after some election candidates wrote letters of protest.
“The BUT’s election cannot be certified until the completion of the investigation,” read the memorandum dated September 29, 2022.
Wilson continued: “The three candidates that wrote protest letters are as follows: Dion Johnson candidate for President, Jason Haley candidate for Vice President, and Crystal McIntosh-Ferguson candidate for Assistant Treasurer.
“The 15 unofficial successful candidates await the outcome of the investigation and the certification of the election as we look forward to serving you for the next three years.”
Wilson did not identify the challenges raised by those candidates; however, Haley told Eyewitness News his chief concerns largely centered around allegations of missing ballots, misinformation, and other voting irregularities.
Hayley furthered that the membership has not received an official count for this year’s election or the previous one as officials stop counting once a winner has been determined.
“The elections started at 8am, and at several polling stations, there were no ballots up until 11am. Then they couldn’t find 200 ballots that were issued, and so my opponent (Wilson) was in the BUT (headquarters) printing ballots.
Haley said: “They printed 400 ballots and no one could say why, or where the initial 200 ballots went. We have 2,300 teachers and 4,000 ballots were printed. Why so many? They said they had to send to the Family Islands but come to find out some of the Family Islands didn’t have.”
He continued: “Then the election going on, and at 11am results are coming in. Spanish Wells came in at 2pm, how come totals coming in with the polls still open? The poll closes at 5pm, but no one can give a clear understanding of why these things are happening.”
Haley pointed to allegations of misinformation in Harbour Island where voters were not correctly advised on the number of candidates, and another instance in Nassau where a polling station had run out of ballots and were turning away voters.
“It’s a lot of misinformation from the presiding officers, everything,” Haley said, who also said there was insufficient monitoring to ensure voters, particularly new teachers, were not manipulated at the polls.
Haley noted any official communication to the membership should have come through the Office of the Secretary-General, a point that was echoed by presidential candidate Dion Johnson in response to the memorandum.
For his part, Johnson said his protest reflected a desire to ensure the equality and equitable treatment of all members for the future of the organization.
He said Wilson’s formal statement reflected clearly how the executive body will be operated over the next three years.
“This action against the government is to ensure that any member of the Bahamas Union of Teachers with the ambition to seek executive office, will be afforded the opportunity to participate in a fair and honest electoral process,” Johnson said.
“If the circumstances were different, and I was sitting in the chair of Presidency, I would have expected the same type of action from our good President.”
Johnson pointed to several issues that he felt should be of greater interest to Wilson, namely membership loss and unpaid allowances for the academic year 2021/22.
“More than 500 members left the Bahamas Union of Teachers within a year, and more than 40 teachers left the membership in less than 24 hours after the elections held on September 22, 2022 for just $2 less dues,” Johnson said.
“What is the plan to address the emergency of membership loss?
He added: “The fear of change should never overshadow our judgment of being fair. A fair election process for all will solidify the true benefit of being a member of an organization that will cater to all and not only a selected few.”
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