Boundary commission to meet with public in April
(CNS): The three people appointed to examine Cayman’s political landscape with a view to creating single member constituencies (SMCs) in preparation for the promised switch to one man, one vote for the 2017 election will not meet with the public until April. Commission Chair Lisa Handley, along with local attorneys Adrianne Webb and Steve McField, reportedly met with various civil service agencies as well as the governor last month and are now gathering data, officials have said.
2015 Electoral Boundary Commission (L-R) Adrianne Webb, Lisa Handley, PhD (chair) and Steve McField
The latest Electoral Boundary Commission is understood to be collecting the information relevant to the introduction of SMC’s from representatives at the Lands and Survey and Planning departments, the Economics and Statistics Office and the Elections Office.
Handley said that a detailed understanding of trends in development and population growth is necessary for the team to be able to make informed recommendations about the shape that any new constituencies should take.
The commission is scheduled to meet again in March to finalise its review of the technical information and it will then launch public meetings in April.
The latest statistics from the Elections Office, which were updated in January, suggest that the current number of voters remains similar to the figure when the country last went to the polls in 2013. There are currently 18,323 registered voters on the electoral roll, and it is the number of voters in George Town and Bodden Town where the commission is likely to focus.
There are now 7,389 voters in the capital and 4,525 voters in Bodden Town, the two districts with the most voters after Bodden Town surpassed West Bay as the second largest district for the first time in 2013 ahead of the May General Elections.
The commission is expected to break the country into 18 individual constituencies, which are to be as close in voter number size as possible. However, the constitutional provision for the district of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman to have two representatives means that when the boundaries are drawn, the two Sister Islands constituencies will each have just over 500 voters. And because of the historical recognition for the districts of East End and North Side, those two constituencies will each have around 600 voters, compared to the remaining 14 districts, which are likely to each have around 1,000 voters.
Members of the public with queries about the political landscape and constituencies or who wish to register to vote can contact the Elections Office on 949-8047.
How about considering one man – two votes? 9 constituencies with 2 members each. Combine Northside and East End with two representatives, and Cayman Brac and Little Cayman with two representatives. West Bay, George Town and Bodden Town would make up the remaining seven…. just a thought.
Mr Premier, I think that if every district were able to vote on who would be the premier would be more honest and fair to the people to vote singly. Why change the number of seats to the LA , unless this is for your personal benefits, and obviously it is. We don’t need U.S.A rules for voting in Cayman Islands, we are our country. Yes Mr Premier you should be scared of losing your seat, “it’s too late” people watch Alden with this move, and remember Castro and the people of Cuba. Remember that Tara Rivers had a hard time with been able to run for election, and this one could be taken it a little further.
Pure talk not going nowhere. zzzzzz
One person, one vote. Good.
18 or 19 constituencies….too many….too expensive.
Cut the number of MLAs down to 7 or 9. Let them come up with strategies for governance and leave the tactical stuff to the chief officers.
In theory sounds great, but can the Chief Officers do what they are supposed to? Seems to me like a lot of them are just getting attendance money too
Change the MLAs. Change the dead beat chief officers.
No change, then suck it up…..the status quo goes on and on and on.
Right now the system is skewed in favor of the Dollar. Until we have OMOV in some form it will continue. Lets get started. If we have ot leave the sister islands and NS and EE as they are for now , I say, OK. We have to break up the WB and GT political mafias and give the power to the people and do it in the 2017 election or we might as well just give up on Caymanians having control of Cayman. OMOV is our only hope. PPM do not let it fail or you will pay dearly as that is what you promised us. Read your own manifesto!
Easy to deal with.
Work out the value of a voter.
Salary = NumVoters x VoterValue
Now some may argue that a GT voter is worth more than a WB voter
Maybe we can add some weighting.
If you rent VoterValue x 0.5
If your house is worth 100,000 VoterValue x 1
150,000 VoterValue x 1.1 and so on
Now if you live in BT and work in GT then the GT MLa’s get a bonus to their salary whilt BT MLA’s get a deduction.
If you live and work in the same district then extra credits
We can go further by breaking down constituencies in each district and ……….
Ok I’m lost
How about just plain old 1 Man(or Women) 1 vote and equal number constituencies.
Perhaps they could also consider the boundaries in terms of how much work MLA’s are expected to do as a minimum? 5 months paid holiday (and thats just winter break) seems a tad excessive…
“However, the constitutional provision for the district of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman to have two representatives means that when the boundaries are drawn, the two Sister Islands constituencies will each have just over 500 voters. And because of the historical recognition for the districts of East End and North Side, those two constituencies will each have around 600 voters, compared to the remaining 14 districts, which are likely to each have around 1,000 voters.”
Sounds good. Lets go!