Final turnout just short of 75% of voters
Voters arrive at the Bodden Town Primary School, the polling station for Bodden Town East
(CNS Election): More than 15,860 voters took part in the Cayman Islands first ever election under the system of ‘one man, one vote’ in single-member constituencies, representing a national turnout of just under 75%. While this was slightly less than previous elections, the numbers differed widely in the constituencies, from a near 86% turn out in East End to just over 69% in George Town North. Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell said the process went very smoothly.
Although with nineteen electoral districts it was a much bigger operation for the Elections Office to carry out than previous elections, Howell said the vote itself was business as usual And despite the new system, there was no confusion on the part of voters, most of whom managed to get in and out of the polling stations in a matter of minutes.
While the turnout was a little lower than had been hoped for, he said the Elections Office could only manage the poll as efficiently as possible: they can’t make people vote. But Howell pointed out that in some constituencies the turnout was very high and he pointed to the change in the system impacting voter patterns.
With a more than 15% range in turnout for constituencies, it’s clear that where the races were perceived to be tight, voters turned out in significant numbers, less so where it appeared incumbents were very unlikely to be unseated.
The largest turnouts were in East End, Cayman Brac East and North Side, but there was an 80% turnout in Newlands. On the other hand, West Bay West and George Town North had the lowest turnouts, both under 70%.
See the final poll returns for the number of voters for all nineteen constituencies here
Category: Election News
