Diciembre 18, 2005
Invalid Voters
Everyone was awaiting a straightforward vote today. However, today's Los Tiempos had a very interesting figure. Approximately 1 million voters were depurado (get to know that word), which means erased from the voter registry. If a voter for whatever reason did not vote in the last elections, which were the municipal elections of 2004, then that person needed to re-register for this December election. Too many people did not know that, but it should have also been the responsibility of the political parties to remind people.
However, today with the campaign, we found cases of voters who did vote in the municipal elections, but were still subsequently erased. As a result, a member of the OAS electoral observation team came out from the city of Cochabamba to dialogue with party officials and disappointed voters who had all of the documentation, including voter card which showed that they did in fact vote in 2004. A laptop computer from the Corte Nacional was brought out, but no resolution was reached. There may be some decision made. Some speculated that some voters may be allowed to vote later (those who should have been legally allowed to vote).
Yet, too many people legally were erased from the registry, but many are claiming that they still are allowed the right to vote.
Posted by eduardo at Diciembre 18, 2005 04:42 PM
Comments
I just heard on the radio that about half of the voters have been "depurados"! Keep up the good reporting!
Posted by: Alexey at Diciembre 18, 2005 05:24 PM