There were long lines of voters for the four boxes – WC1 A-H and I-Z and WC2 A-H and I-Z – for the St Michael West Central constituency at the Lawrence T Gay Primary School in Spooners Hill, St Michael.
Most of the voters were either workers, the elderly or disabled who turned out to cast their ballot for one of the five candidates – incumbent James Paul of the Democratic Labour Party, Ian Gooding-Edghill of the Barbados Labour Party, Hermon Lowe of the United Progressive Party, Angela Edey of Solutions Barbados and Stephen Belgrave of Barbados Integrity Movement.
One first-time voter encountered declined to give her name, but stated she was excited at the opportunity to vote. She said after she cast her ballot she would return home for her mother who needed assistance, as she had difficulty walking, to bring her back to vote.
At 5:45, Suzette Clarke, the Presiding Officer in charge of WC2 I-Z box showed the candidates’ representatives and security present the empty ballot box before locking it. Then at 5:59 she declared the station open and the first voter, Patrick Ward was allowed to cast his vote, followed by Audrey Watson.
While the line for the WC2 I-Z box had about a dozen persons at the start of voting, the WC1 A-H box had at least 60, while the other two boxes had about 20 each. (SP)
