The late Elvis Presley plans to be a ghost voter at the 2007 national elections if you believe the nation’s electoral rolls...lol..In 2006 almost half of Papua New Guinea’s 4.9 million registered voters were regarded by the electoral commission as ghost voters and did not exist...along side elvis, who is currently rocking with the famous tune of "Jailhouse rock" somewhere in the highlands is a handful of Tom Jones, and a couple of kings and queens.
I think I will vote on behalf of my grandfather as he is "unable" to vote...I think people will understand..lol
By JASON SOM KAUT
THE Lae urban local level government is alarmed that names of about 100,000 people in the Lae Open electorate were not listed on the common roll and may not vote in this year’s general elections.
Lae city lord mayor James Khay said more than half the number of eligible voters in all council wards in the city was not listed on the common roll, which was updated by the Department of Morobe and the PNG Electoral Commission.
Mr Khay said in his own ward, there were 35,000 voters listed in the previous common roll but this had come down to 10,000 in the preliminary roll put out by the electoral commission.
He claimed that the same was true for other ward areas and the matter must be investigated.
“The common roll update in Lae is a failure and the electoral commission should seriously look into addressing this quickly as there are about 260,000 people residing here but only about 100,000 are listed,” Mr Khay said.
Ward one covers Kapiak Street to the Lae fire station, Bumbu police barracks and the entire Eriku and Buimo road and Ngawae settlements.
Electoral officer in charge of Lae District Mr Roy Kamen could not be reached for comments yesterday but early this week, Mr Kamen said Morobe province had run out of enrollment forms.
Mr Kamen had urged everyone whose names were not on the roll to come to his office and give their names.
He said the mop-up exercise, which was to end in February, was extended until all eligible voters were enrolled.
Mr Kamen had earlier put the figure of eligible voters in Lae who had not had their names on the common roll at below 10,000.
When will the electoral commission learn to update the common roll a year or two in advance before the polls. This is a disgrace, every man should be registered so they have their say in who gets into the parliament.
The time frame is just not enough, come on people, change the way you do things and start planning in advance.
ol lain lo opis na electoral save wok o, procrastinate and fabrication of data is what they are doing. All of the electoral commission staff and commissioner must be put in jail to serve as an example.
yes, population statistics are crucial for any developing country. And as Sir Amet pointed out "vote is the most powerful tool bestowed upon people to choose the type of leaders they want", more lies and irregularities on the common roll, more "irregular shaped" leaders we will have.
THE Electoral Commission is confident of a trouble-free National Election.
Chief Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen gave the assurance to the business community in Port Moresby during a breakfast yesterday at the Crowne Plaza. Mr Trawen said “Mr President, the general elections in May will be under the new voting system, new electoral roll and under the stewardship of myself as the new Commissioner’’.
“I can assure you that despite what the critics may say, the Electoral Commission is confident of its preparations so far.”
He also assured the business community the commission was working closely with the police to ensure the elections were trouble-free.
Mr Trawen said the prime minister last week gave him (Mr Trawen) the Government’s assurance for the full force of the law to be enforced before and during the elections.
He told the Port Moresby business community election preparations for the National Capital District were progressing well and on target, adding the same applied to the rest of the country. Mr Trawen said the electoral roll in the capital was one of the highly inflated and corrupt rolls in the country and had been discarded. He said the new roll was expected to have 180,000 plus eligible voters enrolled by Tuesday.
He said the 2000 census showed Port Moresby’s population was 252,496, but surprisingly, the 2002 electoral roll registered 233,763, which he said was unrealistic comparing census figures against voter registration.
Dead people in US still voting??? and elvis presley voted in PNG?
November 30 2007, 9:03 AM
Deceased still lining political coffers, to tune of half-million
By Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Harold Schooler died in 2003, but his political activism lives on.
The former piano salesman and musician is among more than 160 dead people who have given more than $540,000 to political committees and candidates for the White House and Congress over the past eight years, an analysis of political donations shows.
LIST: Top donations from deceased donors
The estate of Schooler, who lived in Palm Springs, Calif., has donated $28,500 this year to the Democratic National Committee.
Federal rules allow such donations as long as contributions don't exceed legal limits and the intentions of the deceased were known, said Federal Election Commission spokesman Bob Biersack. Such gifts are fairly rare, he said.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: House | Republican National Committee | Federal Election Commission | Democratic National Committee | DNC
Kent Cooper, a campaign-finance expert and former Federal Election Commission official, admits these contributions are "a little strange and unusual."
"People hear now and then of accusations of dead people voting," he said, "but these are examples of dead people continuing to give and give and give."
The Democratic committee received the most campaign money from deceased donors, nearly $225,000, according to USA TODAY's tally of federal campaign-finance data compiled by CQ MoneyLine, a non-partisan group. The Republican National Committee was the second-largest recipient, with about $93,000.
The donors ranged from Schooler, who has contributed nearly $82,000 since his death, to Richard Lee of Nome, Alaska, whose estate gave $3,207 to the Republican National Committee in 2003. Attempts to reach Lee's survivors were unsuccessful.
Schooler's brother said he didn't know the reason behind his sibling's largess. "We never talked about politics," said Wayne Schooler, 87. "He didn't leave any to me … and I'm a Democrat."
The money from the deceased is a tiny fraction of political contributions.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, people listed as deceased gave nearly $96,000 in federal donations, according to CQ MoneyLine's data.
By comparison, the four congressional campaign committees have collected nearly $170 million so far this year, MoneyLine's tally shows. White House hopefuls have raised even more: about $420 million.
Officials with the Democratic and Republican parties said they don't make any special efforts to seek bequests from contributors' estates. "Occasionally, the committee receives donations from estates and does so in accordance with federal regulations and limits," said RNC spokesman Danny Diaz.
DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton said the money likely reflects donors' commitment to Democratic causes. "By donating to the party, they know that the issues that they care about will continue."
Martha Hughes, a Dallas secretary who died in 1999, was among the Democratic givers. She left all but $10,000 of her $1.7 million estate to Democrats at the state and federal level, according to her executor David Carlock. The analysis shows she gave $25,000 to the DNC in 2003.
Carlock said ballroom dancing and Democratic politics were among Hughes' passions. She had no children. "She lived through the Depression and was a great admirer of President Roosevelt's," he said.
What about the $10,000 that didn't go to Democrats? Hughes left it to her plumber, Carlock said.
