Those who dont live here or pay taxes here

[Sickko]

I was expecting this kind of response as the vast majority of those who post here are living abroad and would justify voting in our elections but let me ask you, how would you decide who can or cannot vote and where would they get enumerated.

Additionally jurors are chosen from our voters list and once you are enumerated you can be called on to sit as a juror, how many of you would come home to do jury duty?

How would the voting process proceed and please dont tell me the US and Israel do it so we can too, that sounds like Portia answering the question of where the money came from to pay for the medical bills for children

[Tilla]

Sickko, the things you are bringing up of for the people in government to figure a way out to make those work. The bottom line is, I am a born and bred Jamaican, I should be allowed all rights afforded to Jamaicans.

I think the jury duty is the least of the issue right now. I will not even bother going into that.

How would the voting process proceed and please dont tell me the US and Israel do it so we can too, that sounds like Portia answering the question of where the money came from to pay for the medical bills for children

You are a journalist, so I do not expect you to have all the answers as to the technicality of getting Jamicans abroad to vote. The thing is, with technology today, it can happen and there is no doubt about that. If I can access my bank account in Jamaica and transfer funds to carry out business there, we can certainly figure a way to make voting possible. It also would not mean that a ton of false votes would come rushing in either, as with todays technology, it could assure that every man who is interested in participating in the process and who has take the time to get enumerated have one vote.

You should concentrate on writing stories and let the technocrats and government folks worry about what is needed and how to go about it making it happen. If there is a will, with today's technology, there is a way.

[Tilla]

What about those who dont need to send remittance as their people are well off, or those who have no desire to come back here, or those who cant come back here, how do you make that distinction as to who have the right to vote.

Additionally those who have dual citizenship they can vote in the elections in TWO separate countries???

As for Lazie I will ignore him cause him nuh realise he is the biggest zealot here on the board, same thing he likes to point fingers at people about.

Sickko, you cannot be selective with citizenship. If a man is a citizen, he is a citizen, plain and simple. Now if a Jamaican is living abroad and feels strongly enough to want to participate in his country's political process, who are you to deny him? What does it matter with dual citizenship and voting in two countries? Man you can go off the deep sometimes boy.

Sickko, you who have the means of influencing people through your work, you need to stop and take stock of some of the things you talk. Realize and recognize that it is not only people who are living back home now have the country's interest at heart. Anyway, I will leave it here as I can see that your mind is already made up on this issue and you are not prepared to discuss the issues with disinterest.

[Sickko]

You made a choice as an adult to live elsewhere, a right I hope every Jamaican would have at one time or the other, honest to God.

However when you made the decision to live and raise your chuldren in the United States of America there are certain rights you gave up.

Sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too.

There are people who have given up their rights to live else where so they can make their contributions to the country of their birth in the way the feel they best can.

There are others who have given up citizenship in countries they were born in as well so they can make a contribution to Jamaica.

You cant have that same right.

Granted most of you here have kept intouch with the issues at home and some of you actually come here once in a while but I am sure you all know people 'up there' who have never been back who dont keep up with what is going on and quite frankly like a few who have arrived in the Promised Land, dont give a damn.

There are some among those who if given the chance to vote would jump on it, I can speak to my family and those I know who fall in the latter category who would vote based on what they remembed in the 1970s or 1980s or because it might be the social thing to do.

and that to my view would pervert the entire exercise.

These over seas based people who would vote out of ignorance cannot be compared to those here who vote 'because mi barn labourite and all de dawg inna mi yard a labourite'...at least they live here and the vote is a right for them.

[Sickko]

Do you realise no government or even the opposition have ever given this foreign vote any serious thought?

It means I am not really out there all on my own and have not gone off the deep end as you would suggest.

[MdmeX]

Just because a person chooses to live outside Jamaica, does not mean that he/she does not have the country's welfare at heart. Most of us, have moved from the shores of Jamaica in search of economical upliftment (nothing wrong with that). Many of us, might not pack our bags and visit every year, but a lot of us certainly contribute financially and otherwise to the development of Jamaica.

I for one am not coming there every year, but I know my contribution.

Bottom line: Because a person live in Jamaica, don't mean that they have the country's welfare at heart.

[Sickko]

Country's welfare has nothing to do with it, and I never questioned anyone's commitment to Jamaica..but let me make my point as simple as I can-

How do you differentiate between those who like most of you here who have kept intouch with the issues affecting the country and those who have no clue.

I have relatives in London who dont have a clue as to what is going on here but I am sure if given the chance to vote they would do so in a heart beat- I have some cousins who think Manley was next to God and would vote PNP but that cant be right.

I have very close family members in the US who have no intentions of ever coming back here to live regardless of who forms the government and they should not be allowed to help decide who is in Gordon House.

One again as I said in another post- none of the government or opposition have ever given this much thought, what does that say to you?

The PNP a few years ago spoke to appointing a Senator who would liaise with the Diaspora...what has happened to that?

[Gamma]

i don't know that you are necessarily in good company because both prties have not pursued...my take is that overseas jamaicans would tend to focus more on issues and facts and chuss mi....none of the "P"s want that kind of educated approach to election.

also you may not be 100 percent right because i remember omar and portia touring and meeting with jamaian communities in florida and the uk ...seeking their support.

[Assasin]

I assume you would have to register to vote first. Most Jamaicans in America believe it or not would not take the oppurtunity to register. Only the ones with interest in Ja, not even if it is on the internet.

Believe it or not I can't see it affecting votes in Jamaica that much. If we were organized we could however have think thanks and organized group that represent us and put pressure on the Jamaican government, not like this diaspora group.

IF people really want to vote there should be no denying them if they are qualified.

[Assasin]

you mean like Pearnel Charles a tell the man fi go back a foriegn or something like that?

That a how much respect the Jamaicans abroad gets. We good enough to take something of but when we ready fi contribute politically is a different thing.

[Assasin]

Do you believe student in University should be denied a vote?
Do you believe farm workers should and other short term workers should be denied a vote?

do you believe the Jamaican diplomatic core and their families should be denied a vote?

These are also part of the "foriegner" core as well.

[Karl]

.

There are some among those who if given the chance to vote would jump on it, I can speak to my family and those I know who fall in the latter category who would vote based on what they remembed in the 1970s or 1980s or because it might be the social thing to do.

and that to my view would pervert the entire exercise.

These over seas based people who would vote out of ignorance cannot be compared to those here who vote 'because mi barn labourite and all de dawg inna mi yard a labourite'...at least they live here and the vote is a right for them.

You are being somewhat naive if you really think each voter has full...or, even near full grasp of all the issues.

It is a fact that past experiences shape us. Each and every voter in Jamaica shall go to the polling station with his/her decision shaped by own experiences. For the older the voter the more experiences and therefore far back in time past experiences help to shape thoughts on 'that present' as the "X" is marked.

Sorry boss,. but many at home are thinking through who to vote for are recalling past experiences and that influences the decision making. The degree to which each experience/the experiences further back in time influences each vote varies.

[Assasin]

So what if a UB40 wanted fi vote? After representing his/her country? since they born overseas and may not know all the issues at hand?
should just have a half a citizenship

[Pepsi]

im eva observe israel,ireland or even the Dominican Rep....bwouy mek the stop talk yahh.

[Sickko]

I had answered that question before about voters living here who don't have a full grasp of issues so I am not as naive as you would want to think.

There is however a fundamental difference with those who chose to or have no choice but to live here....the have a constitutional right to the vote.

Do you think every American who gets to age 17 or 18 and gets a drivers license will obey all the laws of the road or is even has equal ability to negotiate a car on the road.

Is every 16 year-old mature enough to make a sensible decision about sex?