Election door-to-door campaign ready to roll
Sheena Glasgow, Deputy Supervisor of Elections
(CNS): With 18,457 people registered to vote in Cayman, according to the latest register, officials from the Elections Office are about to begin a door-to-door campaign on all three islands, beginning with Grand Cayman, in an effort to encourage those who are entitled to vote in the general elections next May to register and to verify the details of those already on the roll. The government is expected to bring the necessary changes to the Elections Law at the next Legislative Assembly meeting, which will facilitate Cayman’s first ever election under the ‘one man, one vote’ system in 19 new single member constituencies.
The canvassing starts Saturday 27 August and Deputy Supervisor of Elections Sheena Glasgow said that over 160 trained enumerators will be hitting the streets.
Glasgow said the Elections Office has been working with the Economics and Statistics Office to train the teams, since that office has considerable canvassing experience. The election enumerators have a significant task on their hands to persuade over 5,000 people who are entitled to vote but are not yet registered to do so, and to ensure that all voters will be properly registered in the new constituencies, which are detailed on the Elections Office website.
“All volunteer enumerators have to sign an oath of secrecy before a justice of the peace or notary of the public in order to participate,” Glasgow explained in an effort to address any issues people have over the canvassing and forms that they will be asked to complete.
“All voters can be reassured that the personal information they provide will be handled in the strictest confidence,” she said, noting that elections officials face stiff penalties under the law for non-compliance. “Enumerators will wear polo shirts with the Elections Office logo and carry Elections Office photo IDs while conducting their canvassing,” she added.
Glasgow explained that they will have three main forms to fill out as they canvass each residential dwelling across the Cayman Islands. One is for those wanting to register to vote for the first time, another is for those who need to update their existing details and the last is the form to confirm there are no changes.
“Where an elector votes is determined by residence,” she said. “In the past, the onus has been on the electors to come forward and update their name, occupation and address, if there were changes, for inclusion in the final register. But with the law changes, our purpose with door-to-door canvassing … is to confirm where the electors are living now and will be prior to the elections, as well as to help register new electors who wish to vote next year,” Glasgow said.
The first phase of the door-to-door campaign will run until the end of September and a second phase will begin in November, if needed. While voting is not a mandatory, the enumerators will make it easier for existing and new voters to be able to vote by facilitating their registration for the proper electoral districts.
The door-to-door canvassing is expected to minimise the bureaucracy of the registration process. The enumerators will have Frequently Asked Questions sheets and constituency maps for voters to help explain the new system.
For more information, visit the Elections office website
Category: 2017 General Elections, Elections, Politics
How do I get my voters elections card which never arrived in the mail years ago.
So how were these “over 160 enumerators” selected. Were members of the public and the unemployed given the opportunity, I never saw any advertisement for these jobs?.
Keep a knockin (but you can’t come in)
This is time every 4 years when Civil Servants take time off/seconded from their regular jobs, and those Departments move even slower.
As usual they are late out the gate with registering voters as overseas students eligible to register will have already left the Island. Getting people registered is one thing but getting them out to vote is another. Maybe people will be disgruntled enough with the poor performance of the current government to really come out in large numbers to change the players and hopefully if they do change that they will be better than what we have. But that is debatable as politrickans are a breed onto themselves.
4:31pm – Au contraire! This is the time of year that many young, first time, voters return to university and college, and one would’ve thought that the election officials would mobilize this exercise when those voters are home, not when they’re leaving! This, in order to ensure they’re included and equally as important, to explain the absentee voting process which many of them will require, as they will most likely miss the election physically.
But perhaps this process is being run like the Postal Service!
Good point, they could probably have just added an extra page to scholarship application process, pretty sure I had to evidence everything and more that the elections office need. And after that process I don’t think I would have noticed one more piece of paper to fill in!!
Great, government officials walking door to door like pestering jehova witnesses.
How will the trained enumerators be able to tell if someone is in fact Caymanian? Who is deciding that and on what basis?
The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. —Joseph Stalin
In Russia maybe
Hmmm. I thought it was man mountain, cry baby Trump that said that. Oh well, same team.
The word ‘politics’ is derived from the word ‘poly’, meaning ‘many’, and the word ‘ticks’, meaning ‘blood sucking parasites.’ – Larry Hardiman
I’m not voting as it only makes the politician think that we like them
If the ballot has an option, “None of those listed, I request an overhaul of our failed system”, then I will consider voting.
Please don’t knock on my door, I will be out.
I have never voted yet and cannot be accused of encouraging these disappointments. For God’s sake, give me a reason to vote and I will.
Would 10 dolla do it?
Could have waited an extra week before starting this, that way they will catch more people at home and not still on summer holiday. Prime time of year to be running kids back to college and university.
I’m sure my 120lb will be looking forward to strangers in my home.
The reason I don’t register is because there is no one worth voting for and I suspect there are many others in the same position.
I will not be answering my door to enumerators who we all know will not keep any info confidential despite ‘stiff’ penalties there is really no way to find out who leaks information.
I hereby exercise my right to privacy and will not welcome any canvasser.
I will vote only when the government visibly acts against corruption and cronyism, yeh so probably never.
Dam if u do, dam if u don’t, If u vote they still gonna screw ya (government )do u know what the word politician mean?People, of, little, interest, towards, individual, concern, in,any, nation.
Another Brilliant programme. I am so proud of our election team.
Stop the complaining about everything please. It’s getting really boring.
Please explain just what is brilliant about government workers intruding into the private lives of individuals that want to be left in peace? This is a small island anyone who wants to register can easily do so, those that don’t obviously don’t care enough to do so.
Good stuff!…2017 vote must be as “smooth ” as possible for the voter!
“Minimise the bureaucracy”
What a joke!
And anyone who believes in the ‘secrecy’ of their information is living somewhere else.
It’s not secret at all – elector info is published on the elections website for anyone to read or transpose into a database. My info was put into a Campaign database last time and I received many targeted text messages to what was supposed to be a “private” unlisted cell number. The BS abounds.
Is there a way to unregister ?
I dont want to be a part of this anymore.
I am embarrassed to be Caymanian.
CNS: This question was actually dealt with in the Ask Auntie column: Wants to be removed from register of electors
Unless the door-to-door canvassers are able to register me there and then I will skip the process: I cannot stomach taking a copy of a government issued letter back to government to confirm my identity for the umpteenth time, all in order to register to vote for the least bad of a crap selection of candidates.
Does Immigration have a list of who is Caymanian? How is eligibility being verified?
If only there was someone to vote for…
The elections office website appears to have slightly different definitions of who is a Caymanian from those set out in the immigration law. It also appears to distinguish between Status holders and Caymanians (there is no distinction as every Caymanian possesses Caymanian status (or The Right to be Caymanian as the law defines it). That is what makes them a Caymanian.
For example, being born in Cayman even if you have a grandparent or parent who was born in Cayman does not necessarily mean that you are Caymanian, and the definitions change frequently depending on when and in what year either you or your Caymanian parent or grandparent was born.
It would be interesting to know what documents the authorities are expecting as evidence that a born Caymanian is in fact a Caymanian. Cayman passports are often irrelevant to the question.
There is also the issue of persons whose parents become Caymanian subsequently becoming Caymanian by entitlememnt and then losing their status on their 18th birthday unless a successful application is made for its continuation. Will this be checked into?
Given the sometimes subtle issues that will arise, perhaps we can have assurances that the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board will be the arbiter of whether or not a prospective elector is in fact Caymanian rather than an elections office official without the detailed training and experience required to make the distinctions. This is not intended to be any criticism of our hard working election officials. The distinctions are as difficult as they are important.
If this is true, what is happening is madness and should be stopped immediately until it can be done properly. Who is responsible?
According to the elections office, Caymanian Born and Caymanian Status Holders, are eligible to register to vote.
http://portal.elections.ky/index.php/home/registeration-process
Which creates a distinction where none exists because every Caymanian is a Caymanian status holder. The reported mechanism they use to determine if someone is a Caymanian is different from what the Immigration Law requires to determine if someone is a Caymanian.