100 Cases of Alleged Voter Registration Fraud Taken to Court

In the Cayo North constituency, a hundred voter registrations are under scrutiny for suspected fraud. Those registrations are now being challenged in court. Former Area Representative Omar Figueroa, has addressed a letter to the Governor General, alleging that several hundred registrations have mysteriously appeared on the voter’s list without clear addresses. Figueroa suspects these registrations are of dubious origin and is demanding that the Elections and Boundaries Department provide the necessary documentation to verify the legitimacy of these voters. News Five’s Britney Gordon spoke with Figueroa to delve deeper into these serious allegations. Here’s the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Former Cayo North Area Representative, Omar Figueroa has done the math, and by his calculations, things are not adding up at the Elections and Boundaries Department. He alleges that prior to the 2024 municipal elections, a significant number of voters of questionable origins began appearing on the voter’s list. As Figueroa and Mayor Earl Trapp were unable to independently verify the voter’s addresses, they had given up on pursuing answers. Flashforward to July and August 2024, the period allotted for the transfer of electors from one constituency to the next and Figueroa claims that the suspicious activity has returned.

 

Omar Figueroa, UDP Standard Bearer, Cayo North

“We filed an objection for the first supplementary but we weren’t successful in court. We have since filed another one because the same thing is happening. We’re seeing like thirty, forty names being placed for example, on Stanton Street or on Benque Viejo Road. Or on Beetlejuice Street, and with no clear indication as to which house, and as we do our investigations, we start to find out, you know what, these people actually live in Succots, these people actually live in Benque Viejo Town. We make our calls, and we do our investigation, and we find out a bunch of them, a bunch of them significant numbers live in Hattieville and in Lords Bank and in certain parts of Belize City.”

 

In the most recent supplementary list, two hundred and seventy-three voters registered to transfer to Cayo North. Through an investigation conducted by Figueroa and his team, he suspects that at least one hundred of those voter registrations are fraudulent and is challenging them before the court.

 

Omar Figueroa

“We start by looking at the areas from where they’re transferred and immediately you start seeing but what really raises some red flags is when you look at one host for example on Stanton street And you have thirty-five people there in the last three weeks ff the transfer period. In the last three weeks of the transfer period, you have twenty-eight people, I think, registering at Stanton Street, and then we have about, I think, eighteen on Benque Viejo Road, and we’re trying to decipher whether it’s the same host because it’s a Karner host that’s being, that’s the focus of our investigation.”

 

One of the major causes of concern was the lack of specificity in the addresses listed on the registration sheets. Addresses such as Bolton Area, Church Street, and Benque Viejo Road were listed with no house numbers.

 

Omar Figueroa

“The election and boundaries office made it difficult for us to actually carry out our investigation because they have refused to give us the  precise location of these residences. However, we had a small victory in court yesterday where the magistrate instructed the election and boundaries to actually provide copies of those investigation sheets. So that should help shed light. On our investigations and help us to determine what it is that we’re trying to determine. But we are confident that out of the one hundred  that we objected to, we are confident that the significant majority is actually fraudulent votes.”

 

We reached out to Chief Elections Officer, Josephine Tamai for a comment but she was unable to offer a comment at this time. However, she explained that any registered elector can object to the name of any person published on the monthly supplementary list. The matter is then heard in open court by the magistrate. Based on the evidence provided in court, they will decide whether the name remains or is to be removed from the list. Objections are part of the monthly process allowed between the fifteenth and twenty-fifth of the month. Figueroa says that this is a very limited amount of time to conduct independent investigations on several hundred registrations, but they still thought it necessary to proceed with at least one hundred cases.

Omar Figueroa

“And what’s sad about this whole issue, what’s really sad is the number of young voters that are being enticed to be a part of this fraud. We have about ten percent out of the hundred that are first-time voters. It cannot be that we at that early age, we will encourage these young people to go and be part of this kind of fraud, right?  I’m glad that you’re giving this some attention because it really needs a lot of attention. And hopefully, we’re trying as much as we can to reach organizations like the OAS that come down and monitor elections. And we’re reaching as many  regional partners as well to try to shed some light and hopefully bring an end to this.”

 

The case will resume in court on Friday. Britney Gordon for News Five.