James Morrell warned that the electoral returns coming into the Tabulation Center could be loaded with fraud and the commission must not make the “grand error” of announcing these until it had confirmed their veracity. It appeared, however, that the commissioners believed that was the job of the candidates who would have a chance to make their challenges.
Morrell suggested using the independent record that existed in the official returns that the party poll watchers received at the BVs as a check against those coming into the Tabulation Center. A member of the CEP noted that there were eleven thousand BVs.
Regardless, Morrell advised the CEP to take its time and do the job right because anything would be better than announcing false results. That would be a disaster both for Haiti and personally for the members of the electoral commission, Morrell said.
The members of the electoral commission insisted on their intention to oversee a free and fair election. They indicated, however, that they had nothing to do with the operations at the Tabulation Center.