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Guyana
General Right to
Vote
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
Article 59 states, "Subject to the provisions of article 159,
every person may vote at an election if he is of the age of eighteen years
or upwards and is either a citizen of Guyana or a Commonwealth citizen
domiciled and resident in Guyana."
Exclusion Based
on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
Article 155 section (1) states: "No person shall be qualified
for election as a member of the National Assembly who
(b) is a person
certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under
any law in force in Guyana."
Article 159 section (3) states: "No person shall be qualified
to be so registered who on the qualifying date is a person certified to
be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in
force in Guyana."
Exclusion Based
on Physical Disability
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
Article 53 states: "Subject to Article 155 (which relates
to allegiance, insanity, and other matters) a person shall be qualified
for election as a member of the National Assembly if, and shall not be
so qualified unless, he
(b) is able to speak and, unless incapacitated
by blindness or other physical cause, to read the English language with
a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part
in the proceedings of the Assembly."
Voter Assistance
by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(1975: Representation of the People)
Section 73, subsection (1) states: "The presiding officer,
on the application of any voter who is incapacitated by blindness or any
other physical cause from voting in the manner prescribed by section 72
and who takes an oath in Form 21, mark the ballot paper of such elector
in his presence and in the manner directed by him."
Section 73, subsection (2) states: "The presiding officer
may, at the request of any elector who is incapacitated in the manner
prescribed in subsection (1) and who has taken the oath in Form 22, and
is accompanied by a friend, permit such friend, if he is an elector entitled
to vote at the polling place, immediately after he has voted on his own
behalf, and notwithstanding that his finger has been immersed in electoral
ink, to accompany the elector into the voting compartment and mark his
ballot for him: Provided that no person may mark the ballot paper of more
than one elector as his friend
"
Section 73, subsection (3) states "whenever any voter has
had his ballot paper marked in accordance with this section, the poll
clerk shall enter into the poll book opposite the name of the elector
the fact that the ballot paper was so marked, the reason therefore and,
if marked by a friend, the name and the number in the official list of
electors of that friend."
Poll Worker Manuals:
General and Regional Elections: Instructions for the Polling Place Officials
"A blind or incapacitated voter may have his ballot papers
marked for him by either the presiding officer or a friend who accompanies
him" p 8
Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and Country
Assistants (1992)
The voter and assistant must take oath upon voting p 27
Off-Site Voting
Alternatives
Electoral Law:
(1975: Representation of the People)
Section 27 subsection (3) states: "Every elector who votes
at an election shall, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to
voting by proxy and to the marking of ballot papers on behalf of blind
and incapacitated electors, vote at a polling place in person."
Section 30 subsection (1) states: "The following electors
shall be entitled to vote by proxy at an election
(c) those unable,
or likely to be unable, by reason either of blindness or any other physical
incapacity, to go in person to the polling place or, if able to go, to
vote unaided."
Poll Worker Manuals:
Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and Country
Assistants (1992)
Included in list of electors entitled to vote by Proxy are "those
unable by reason of blindness or other physical incapacity to go in person
to the polling pace or to vote unaided." P 19
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