Voters list passes 16,000
(CNS): With just over one month left to gobefore the register of electors closes for new voters ahead of the May 2013 General Election, Elections Supervisor Kearney Gomez said that voter registrations were, as expected, picking up. The deadline and cut-off point for people to register on the list so that they can vote in next year’s national poll is 2 January and Gomez said that, since Caymanians always seem to leave things until the last minute, the numbers of people coming into the office was growing. The latest figures show that 16,317 people — almost a 1,000 more than the number who voted in 2009 — are currently registered to vote in the next election. However, officials remain hopeful that more than a 1,000 more people will sign up before midnight on 2 January.
Now that government has settled the election question regarding the additional three seats and indicated how the 18 members of the Legislative Assembly will be returned, the way has been paved for the elections office to beginning preparations for the actual poll. Despite being some six months away, the official launch of the elections will take place on 12 December when the governor issues the election writs.
In the meantime, the office will be marking its last weekend outreach for people who wish to vote at the Market at the Grounds this Saturday and will also be present at local supermarkets for the last time. After that, people who are qualified but who have not yet registered will need to go directly to the Elections Office or contact the local campaign group Grasp Your Future. (See CNS ad for details). On Cayman Brac, people can register at Brac Executive Services, in West End.
Voters who will be working on election day, or are infirm, incapacitated or in long term care and who wish to take advantage of early voting via the elections office mobile voting units can contact the Office, which will shortly be working on the timetable for the mobile programme.
Gomez again urged everyone who wants to vote in the general election to get down to the office as soon as possible and get registered so that they can take advantage of their democratic right and join what he believes is likely to be a record turnout.
The office is now able to issue election cards, which streamlines the election process, but electors’ details must be correct to get a card. Gomez explained that voters do not need a card to vote but it will make the process easier. This could be especially relevant in George Town, where there are now six seats and a growing electoral roll. Since there is likely to be a long list of candidates fighting over those six seats, voting in that district may take time.
The office is also urging everyone who is already registered but who has since changed their address and moved districts to inform the office before the 2nd January because they could lose their right to vote.
For more information on the elections and voter registration, go to www.electionsoffice.ky
See related story on CNS:
Electors must reveal new address to keep voting rights
Category: Politics
Is there any real reason why they can't print off election cards for registered and gazetted voters? What are they waiting for?
and what about the rest of the population?????
you know, the ones that do all the work and pay all the government fees……..
it doesn't matter….. cayman shoots itself in the foot by preventing the most educated, hardworking, law abiding residents from voting…..
the cayman electorate is a joke….judging by the people they vote in……
So if I decide to vote this year do I have to vote for the clowns that will be on the ballot? or can I just think of someone I would prefer and add their name?
So who would you prefer?
I wonder how many modern "democracies" in the world have less than a third of the population as eligible to vote. In the UK any Commonwealth or Irish citizen who is legally resident in the UK is eligible to vote. This would of course include a Cyamanian. Most countries have similar rules. So why are tens of thousands of legal residents in the Cayman Islands denied this democratic right? After all they pay the same taxes, the same fees and the same duties as anyone else. The answer of course is simple; when only a small percentage has the right to vote they will hang on to that rather than allow all to have the same privileges. Whether it be women throughout the western world, African Americans in the US or non-Caymanians in the Cayman Islands there will always be those who try to keep the power of "democracy" to themselves. When poilicians feel they only have to look out for the interest of the 30% the dangers of corruption and cronyism are obvious.
Let me know what percentage of the resident population in the USA were able to vote in the recent election of November 2012 even if they lived there seven or seventy years without being a naturalized citizen. The same should apply in the Cayman Islands.
There are 208 million registerd voters in the U.S. Out of a population of 303 million. So about double Cayman's percentage.
And the figures are even more telling when one looks at the percentage of adults with the vote. And don’t forget the power crazed, Caymunian crew would have it even worse given they didn’t want the Sttus Grant holders to vote. If they could keep the vote to their family and pet dog they would. As long as it is an indigenous dog.
Again I ask , but let me pharaphase "How many alien residents in the USA were allowed to vote in the November 2012 elections?" I will bet you my life NONE. Out of the population of 303 million and the registered voters of 208 million all were Naturalized Citizens of the USA. The Cayman Islands exceeds that percentage on a per capita basis, so when you choose to distort your information to satisfy your agenda, please compare apples to apples or elephants to elephants not an elephant to an ant.
Non-point. As a proportion of its total adult population Cayman has many more work permit holders than the U.S. Few countries in the world can match Cayman's percentage of expats to total population.
I agree few countries in the world can match Cayman's percentage of expats to total population. Now let's try Bermuda for size and population and tell me how many of the resident expats in Bermuda are allowed to vote there? I would really love to know so that maybe the powers in Cayman can adopt the Bermuda model.
Its worse than you say, yes, the majority of legal residents have no vote, they are probably the biggest contributors to the nations income, but the worst aspect is that those that get the vote vary from those that get four votes, and those that get one!If you sat down and tried to devise a worse system, I dont think you would do it! So, that explains why you get such bad representation, if you sat down and tried to choose a worse premier, I doubt you do that either!
I could not have said it better myself. I would add that if you do have the right to vote, you should also have the right to stand for election too.
Why?
Can we get the UN to come and observe the elections and confirm whether they are fair?
Yes, I agree completely with this idea, although I suspect that the UN has neither the clean hands nor pure heart necessary to be worthy of the task. The institutional corruption in Cayman is rife and the consequences of such are all encompassing. When a billionaire is allowed to pump his money into a political candidate's coffers for what is obviously a vote buying scheme for his own purposes then it makes a mockery of democracy before the ballots are even cast. The influence of the "masonic cult" in Cayman is also at the root of a lot of the same said institutional corruption in Cayman and it has to be dealt with before any real progress can be made. The last election cycle and what has gone on in the interim is a blatantly glaring example of the dire consequences which inevitabley result. The writing is on the wall that the coming election cycle will show evidence of the most vile tactics of manipulation, bastardization of and contamination of our already woefully imperfect semblance of a democratic process. What we have collectively experienced in the terms of vote buying, conflicts of interest issues and all of the myriad underhanded and downright treasonous activities of the guilty among us will be exponentially greater and, because they know that their cover has now been somewhat blown, the levels of guile will be more acute than ever before with a heightened level of surreptitous activity. I would personally welcome one such as Jimmy Carter to independantly obvserve the entire coming election process. Remove the veil of secrecy from the halls of our national administration and let the sanitizing light of day fully illuminate the dark and mildewed crevices where those of vampirical tendencies lurk and have done so virtually unimpeded for far too long. Who the cap fit, let them wear it, no matter who they are, even if it be on their way to the proverbial gallows and let the chips fall where they may. As a country and as a society with the goal of a truly sustainable economy, the Cayman Islands cannot afford to do any less. It is time long overdue for us to clean house, in more ways than one. Our collective future depends upon it. Our regional examples of what happens when injustice and inequity are allowed to run rampantly roughshod over all and sundry is history giving us the illuminated roadmap of a cautionary tale and what happens when it is not heeded with the gravity it deserves and thus acted upon with an undaunted diligence, vigilance and comprehension of the direct correlation to our survival. The status quo is proven to be unsustainable and thus has been rendered wholly unacceptable and the longer left to fester and abscess beneath the surface then the more damage wil be done and thus harder to correct.
It would help readibility if you would divide into a few paragraphs. Thanks.
Thank you for your constructive criticism, your point is valid and I will apply it to my future postings.
No point checking, it starts unfair, how can it be fair to allow one man four times the representation than another? You dont need to do any undercover skulduggery, the constitution arranges it up front!
When will they update the list? It says 15,700 on the website not the 16,317 quoted in this article.
The article is about the INCREASE of registered voters…perhaps that accounts for the difference in number?
I am naturalized (been here over 12 years) so have a Cayman passport (I know its only a travel doc) – so why can’t I vote?
dat cuz you be a furiner, now give back dat Caymanian's job an go back home, and watch for dat airplane door hittin yer a$$ on da way!
If thats the only way you can get a job then your not getting one. Get over it and move back in with your parent/parents.
you have to accept the fridge first
If that's the case, you CAN vote! Go to the elections office!
Please stop giving false information. If they are not Caymanian they cannot vote. Being a BOTC is irrelevant to the qualification requirements.
How are they carrying a Cayman passport if they are not Caymanian?
It is a British Passport – Cayman Islands and that is governed by the UK Nationality Acts. It has nothing to do with local immigration law which defines a Caymanian.
How many times……..you have to have STATUS before you can vote!! You have to have CITIZENSHIP before you can apply for status!!!!
Because it is a BOTC passport and is usually unrelated to whether you are Caymanian or not. Caymanian is an immigration status. BOTC is a citizenship. It is the same as the citizenship in the Falklands, Bermuda, BVI etc.
Do you have Caymanian Status?
No status – the elections office were confused and said maybe I can vote go to a lawyer
Let me clear it up for you. Unless you acquired the right to vote under earlier legislation when Caymanian status was not required provided you were resident and a British Subject, you cannot vote. Why have you not applied for Caymanian status?
My aunt lived in the USA legally from 1962 until 2012 and she still cannot vote because she is a resident and not a citizen, how about that? please advocate this to the USA and see if they will change their law for you and her and then come here and change it for everyone who wants a voice in Cayman just because they pay some indirect taxes on their consumer goods. I am so sick of some of you people who was given a inch in someone's country and now you want the whole darn yard.
Ummm, because you are not Caymanian.
And that, my friends is the Harry Potter world of Cayman – you have status, you have a passport, you have lived here for well over a decade. And you are not Caymanian. Muggles and mudbloods have nothing on this.
They didn't say they had status, that is the difference. The current law says you have to have status by birth or grant. Being naturalised makes no difference, you no longer need to be naturalised to be able to vote. I'm not saying I agree with the current law but that is what it states.
It is all Harry Potter gibberish.
You should read more carefully. There was no mention of status which if the poster did possess would mean that he is eligible to registered as a voter. Your post is rubbish.
You can't vote because you don't have status. It no longer matters if you are naturalised, you don't need to be to vote, but you do need to have status.
I reckon someone would get a good bulk discount on Chinese fridges.
Wow, nearly half the adults in Cayman are allowed to vote. It is like England before they gave the vote to women.
Except that in England at that time you had by comparison a tiny transient expat population. In other words, there is no comparison. Even today you cannot vote in national elections in the UK unless you are a resident British Citizen, Commonwealth Citizen or Irish Citizen.
In the UK it doesn't take 15 years to get citizenship at acost of thousands of pounds!
Nor does it in Cayman. It only takes 5 years and is provided for under exactly the same statue and exactly the same rules as are applicable in the UK.
And where you getting that information from?
The British Nationality Act, s.18.
Please tell me how long it takes for a child that was born in the UK 15 years ago of non UK Citizen parents to be considered a UK citizen, because I have such a case and I don't want to spend thousands of pounds to fight the case.
What do you mean by "Even today……"? Do you think that everyone in the UK should have a vote? Even tourists on holiday?
You are adept at missing the point. The point is that there are adults of other nationalities resident in the UK that do not have the right to vote in national elections.
I'm neither missing the point adeptly nor clumsily.
Of course there are nationalities resident in the UK that do not have the right to vote in national elections. It depends, among other things, how long they have lived there. I will live in Cayman for 5 years and I wouldn't expect to have a vote while I'm here.
Yes, you have missed the point, you just don't realise it. The point is that it depends primarily on your nationality regardless of how long you have lived there. A U.S. citizen who has lived in the UK for 10 years will still not have the right to vote in national unless he has acquired one of the 3 citizenships I mentioned.
Good tohear it. At least you got that point.
But EU citizens can vote in local elections which basically are at the same level as a Cayman election – after all Ezzard got elected with 254 votes.
Not for Cayman, they're not. They are our national elections. We are represented both nationally and internationally through that elected body. This issue is key to the right of to self-determination which doesn't apply to the local county in the UK.
254 votes does not a national election make. Cayman is not a country. It is just a territory.
Thanks for this. I am always impressed when a poster is able to point out a flaw in someone's argument in a polite and gracious manner. (It's a bit of a sad commentary that civility is so rare on CNS that I am thus impressed by it, but there you are.) I am sure your comment will reach more willing ears as a result of its measured tone.
Hope it comes soon so we can get our little homes fixed up from Mr Darts money. Although rumours have it that two from E End got theirs already and one from C Brac. We thought that everyone from there got all fixed up after the Paloma.
It just seems so terribly unfair that I get 6 votes, and I can't give 3 to Ellio and the other 3 to Dr. Frank.
CNS how can I find out how many people are registered to vote by district?
CNS: Click here – Revised list of voters
Wow, I checked out the site. I love that I could confirm I was listed. I'm less thrilled to have my address open to any Tom, Dick or Harry. I'm concerned that can find out my address so freely.
Bit of a privacy concern there.
Yes every voter's private address is available to all. It's been brought up as a major concern before, but only for the last 30 years or so. they'll change it one day……..
Without the address they wouldn't know where to deliver the appliances.
If you own property your "private" address is also available to all through the Land Registry.
Same in the UK my friend, it's public information.
Mac can't vote – I searched the list and he's not on it! Is he even from here? Looks like he might be one dem furiners sent to destroy Cayman! (…and it's clearly working.)
Bear in mind he is “W. McKeeva Bush” – I’m a teacher in case you’re worried I’m Kee-Kee.
Crap – there he is on the list. I guess he'll lose the election 15,999 to 1 then. Thanks teacher!
You must have searched wrong.
Businessman or Elected Public Servant?
All joking aside, how does the elections office know he is a Caymanian?
Actually he only needs 8001, so at say $500.00 a piece (bulk discount or some backscratching scam) that’s just a Cayman dinner over 4 million bucks. 4 mill is just a portion of some of the bigger ‘deals’ (right guys?) so game on.
Kearney is correct: Caymanians leave things to the last minute. That's why it took him so long to retire – until he could ensure he would still be paid for this elections job. Are there no younger Caymanians available? Are they being trained? Or are Kearney, Colford and Orrett making sure no one is trained so they can go on forever getting paid year round for this once every four years activity.
And don't forget – paid final salary when they retire too.
Didn't pick up on this aspect but you are quite right. It is something of a disgrace. It is also how the civil service works.
So that make what percentage of the population that is allowed to vote?
Why do I keep thinking about apartheid and not inclusive government?
I just hope the apartheid and non inclusive government that you write of is not the kind that existed in SA pre the reconciliation. I use to think that we have a voting system that is similar to the USA then again maybe not because many residents of over 20 and 30 are not allowed to vote in the USA until they become naturalized citizen. The system that you write of is similar to what they have in Germany, then again that is not right because unless you have generational ties and is born there you are not a citizen and is not eligible for their passport. I don't understand what you are tring to get at because in my opinion the indigenous population of the Cayman Islands is less than 50% of the voting populace.
16,000…? Wow that's a lot of fridges Mac.
No fridges required. Cabinet status grants were great. They don’t cost a thing ( to the politicians) and keep on giving as all those spouses and teenage kids get status too!
A broken record. Did anyone challenge the validity of the grants at the time? No. So get over it. They status grant recipients are here and here to stay – why pile division upon division?
Yes. It was perceived as an obvious attempt at vote buying without any proper checks and balances. Many recipients deserved the grants and I welcome them as fellow Caymanians. Many did not. You know who they are. You also know that Mac would not be in office now if not for them.
There was no point in challenging the whole grant at that time. The government could have been taken to court over it and by the time it got to court a different government would have been sued. Individual grants could have been challenged and we wish they had, like Mr. Dart, Mr. Ryan, Mr. John Kaweski and all the others who should never have been given irrevocable status.
It is NOT irrevocable.
Not really. He’s got a lot of $$$$
Best of all, someone else's money!