Voting off to slow start as polls open
Election staff board the first of the buses that rolled out at 5am today headed to East End 
Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell unseals the doors where the election paraphernalia, including the empty ballot boxes, were stored inside the GAB under strict police watch 
The George Town North team gets ready for deployment
(CNS): Just over 16% of the electorate voted during the first two hours after the polls opened on General Election Day in the Cayman Islands. However, elections officials are expecting a busy day with a high turnout.
More than 21% of voters in North Side have already cast their vote, while over in West Bay West just over 7.2% of voters had made it to the polling station, according to the hourly poll returns released by the Elections Office. All polling stations opened on time and so far voting is going very smoothly, officials said.
Election Day started for the office at 4am, when ballot boxes were dispatched without incident to the 19 constituencies, alongside the deployment of all polling and logistical staff. The polling stations opened with a minute’s silence for Prince Philip, who died last Friday, and polling began at 7.01am.
At 5am Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell said things were running smoothly. “The teams have done an exceptional job and everything is going as planned and organised. We look forward to welcoming voters and doing our part to facilitate their important role in this democracy. We have inspected all polling stations and we are ready to start the polling at 7am,” he said.
Colford Scott, one of eight domestic observers who will begin visiting the polling stations around Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, was also at the Election Command Centre at the Government Administration Building as the day began. He said his team will be observing the process throughout the day to ensure the process is in line with the local elections law and international best practices.
“So far, the mobile polling has been very efficiently carried out. Also, all postal and mobile ballots will be added to one of the regular boxes to ensure that the process of the secrecy of polling is maintained,” he said. “All the 17 buses left between 5 and 5.30am to go to their respective polling stations and we are expecting all will be open on time for the 7am start. We also look forward to a good turnout today and the conclusion by the night.”
Scott said a preliminary report from the observers’ team, which is led by Hadley Roberts, is expected tomorrow, followed by the full report in a couple of weeks.
Polls close at 6pm and the count will take place in each constituency, where the results will be announced and then passed through to the command centre and posted on the Elections Office website here.
People can also watch the live-stream command centre webcam on the government’s Facebook page.
Category: Election News
Nothing worth voting for.
Then you lose your right to complain about the results if you don’t vote.
I disagree. If you are a law abiding citizen you have every right to critique your government, administrative and elected. The fact that there are no candidates worthy of your vote does not mean you have to hold your nose and choose the least bad one.
Do us proud, Prospect: vote for education.
Get ready for a cluster&$@!