Post-election voter list inches upward
(CNS): The first list of registered voters published by the Elections Office since the early April general elections has 23,664 voters, which is 55 more than at the time of elections. The changes to the list support the issue raised by the international election observers in their report last month that the boundaries of the current constituencies need to be reviewed as gaps between voter numbers continue to widen.
Red Bay, the seat held by former premier Alden McLaughlin, has seen the biggest growth, with an additional eleven voters, while the constituency with the greatest decline is the current PPM leader’s seat of George Town East, where nine voters have either died or been removed from the list.
Bodden Town East, the seat held by former health minister Dwayne Seymour, the only claimed independent MP sitting on the opposition benches, remains the largest constituency in the country. It increased by just two voters to 1,666, which is 3.5 times more than the 476 voters in Cayman Brac East, the smallest constituency, which is held by the only PPM member sitting on the government benches, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly. According to the most recent demographic breakdown, CBE has the highest average age of voters at 57.
East End remains the smallest constituency on Grand Cayman with 769 voters, with no change since the last list was published on 2 April, ahead of the elections on 14 April.
As expected, voter numbers in all of the seats in the Bodden Town district grew, as these communities continue to see the greatest population growth. However, there were also some noticeable changes in McKeeva Bush’s West Bay West constituency, which grew by eight voters, possibly influenced by the concerted pre-election voter drive.
Bernie Bush’s seat of West Bay North has seen the largest increase in voter numbers in the district, adding ten voters on the new list. But the large gap between West Bay South and West Bay Central has also grown after a decline in numbers for the latter and an increase for the former. There is now a difference of 361 voters between these two district constituencies, considerably more than the absolute maximum difference of 10% based on international standards.
As the political landscape across Cayman changes, Premier Wayne Panton’s seat of Newlands, which grew by six voters, also has the youngest average age of just 46, some eleven years younger than the oldest and five years below the average voter age of 51.
See the new voter list on the Elections Office website here.
- Fascinated
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- Bored
- Afraid
Maybe it is time to begin talking about changing our voting system from “first past the post”. Discuss other systems such as “ranked voting” to get fairer results. These systems can be reviewed on YouTube, Google, etc.
Why does Kenneth Bryan still have a LARGE BILLBOARD sign up? Weren’t all those signs to be temporary and removed after the election? This is another classic example of skirting the law. CPA?
The banana republic of Cayman afraid to let all its legal residents vote
Give it up! Nowhere allows noncitizens to vote! You are welcome to vote wherever you hold citizenship.
Apart from America and the U.K.
Still only 23000 voters ? Bout time status holders were allowed to register to vote without having the burden of jury service.
Better yet, the jury selection pool should be derived from the drivers license listing.
Why? Is doing a civic duty that terrible? Once every few years is such a hardship.
Fun fact 1. Ju Ju got the lowest number of votes of any successful candidate – 266 – yet is a cabinet minister. Fun fact 2. Only one successful candidate got less than 50% of the available votes in their constituency – Sabrina Turner with 37% of the vote. Fun fact 3. The MP with the greatest percentage of votes in their constituency was Kenny Bryan, with a whopping 87% of the votes cast in GTC. Fun fact 4. nearly 10% of votes cast were for candidates who have been convicted by the court of assault or dealing drugs (or both).
Much too early to redraw the boundaries at this point. But it will have to be done before the next election in 2025.
We need a National vote. Redraw the boundaries to equalize, but let everyone vote for the representatives of every constituency. One person, 17 votes.
Agreed. But we also need to reduce the number to something more reasonable and affordable.
7:58pm, that’s a dream that these 1-pop politicians will block forever and ever!
The very thought of facing a national vote churns their bowels.
Cant find 3 decent / qualified people to vote for! How is one to decide on 17? What’s the criteria for number 13? I know his grandmother used to make the best rope?
People in many places around the world have national votes, with much larger than 17.
The criteria is the same as always, but will require voters paying attention to what the person running “does” and not so much on knowing his/her family.
That’s what is required if we want to attract the best caliber of representatives. A National Vote!
7:59…….
Agree wholeheartedly on the National vote but not for 17 votes. We could get rid of several MP positions and function just fine! Too many MPs for our little islands.
There will be at least one by-election before 2025.
Best to prepare now.
Maybe even a national election _ Johann where are you?
Marbel Drive?