The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Julio César Castaños Guzmán, reported on 15 June 2020 that with 20 days to go before the presidential and congressional elections, the process is going very well in the country and abroad, as reported in N Digital. The presidential and congressional elections are scheduled for 5 July 2020 in the Dominican Republic and several cities abroad.
Castaños Guzmán said delegates of political parties and observers have been witnessing the organization procedures. He said a general meeting is called for Wednesday, 17 June.
Castaños Guzmán said he has supervised the cloning of the scanners that will be used to transmit the voting tallies to the central JCE database. He reported that by Wednesday, 17 June all the scanners will be ready to operate.
Regarding the vote abroad, he said that venues have been chosen and the paper ballots that will be used for both the local and abroad votes are being printed.
Castaños Guzmán confirmed that the Dominican election will be observed by independent observers who will be able to capture the entire process on camera. Observers will be watching the start of the vote, the scanning procedures, the actual vote count of the paper ballots. Likewise, he said the political parties will have their respective delegates at the polling stations.
What is different in this election is that each of the three voting levels – president/vice president, senators, and deputies – will be voted for independently. In the previous election, the votes of the deputy counted for the senator of the party. This time, voters will receive three separate ballots.
A sanitary protocol requires all voters to keep physical distance, wear protective face masks and use disinfectant of spaces and materials. Likewise, the voting time has been shortened to 7am to 5:30pm. Previously, each polling station had to wait for closing until all voters who had entered at 5pm actually voted. This time, a firm closing time has been set for 5:30pm. The measure is being contested in court. Political parties had requested the vote be extended to 6pm and voters inside the polling place at the deadline be allowed to vote.
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N Digital
16 June 2020