Week of mobile voting begins today

(CNS): Mobile voting begins on Friday, 8 May, in Little Cayman and continues through the week covering each district and ending with West Bay on Friday, 15 May. People who have applied for mobile voting and who can travel to their stations are asked to do so between 9:00am and 1:00pm. The exception is in North Side, where mobile polling will start at 10:00am. Election workers will spend the rest of the day, until 6pm, travelling to the homes of voters who because of illness or infirmity cannot easily go to the polls. All applications for mobile voting had to be in by 7 May.

Employers are reminded that they must give employees reasonable time off to cast their ballots. Supervisor of Elections Kearney Gomez said the majority of people voting by mobile ballot are police officers and those who will be staffing the polling stations for the General Elections and Referendum on 20 May.

This Friday, election officers are carrying ballot boxes to Little Cayman. With no polling station on the smallest of the three Cayman Islands, voters there had the choice of travelling to West End Cayman Brac on Election Day or applying to take advantage of the new mobile voting facility approved by the legislature last year. Advisories have already been posted around the island telling mobile voters to cast their ballots at the Public Works Compound.

On Monday, 11 May, mobile voting takes place in three districts: Cayman Brac at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre, East End at the William Allen McLaughlin Civic Centre, and North Side at the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre.

Tuesday, 12 May, is the day for Bodden Town. Mobile voting trailers will be sta-tioned in the parking lot near the James Manoah Bodden Civic Centre. If necessary, mobile voting in Bodden Town will continue into Wednesday.

Wednesday, 13 May, is the day for George Town. Mobile trailers will be parked outside the Smith Road Professional Centre, 150 Smith Road, where the Elections Office is housed. Polling will continue on Thursday if needed.

Thursday, 14 May, is for mobile polling in West Bay. The polling trailers will be stationed outside the old town hall, now the district library and learning centre. Polling will continue on Friday if necessary.

As Gomez has pointed out previously, portable voting booths will be used to give voters privacy when marking their ballots in their own home. Election Office workers are contacting these voters to confirm time frames for the home visits. Election officials who conduct the polling may be accompanied by candidates’ agents and observers who are allowed to watch the procedure but cannot take part.