Thousands cast early vote as polls open
(CNS): The polls opened at 7am on Wednesday, the General Election and Referendum Day, and by 10:30am, more than 8,400 people, almost a third of all voters, had already cast their ballots, including postal and mobile votes. The Elections Office is expecting a good turnout for the election and referendum before the polls close at 6pm this evening. As voting continues, there are a number of rules in place designed for a peaceful and efficient day.
There are three main rules that apply to voters. Firstly, the liquor stores and bars are all closed until 7pm, an hour after the polling stations close. Secondly, no mobile phones or any other devices that can record or take pictures are allowed inside polling stations. Thirdly, wearing any kind of insignia or clothes promoting candidates, parties, or a ‘yes or ‘no’ to any of the referendum questions is forbidden.
Voters should take their voter ID card, a driver’s licence, or any other government-issued photo card. You must vote at the polling station for the constituency where you are registered, and you can check your station here.
Once there, your name will be checked by an election official and the various candidates’ agents.
Inside, once you have your ballot paper, you need to place a tick or cross by your one candidate of choice. Cayman no longer has multi-member constituencies, so voters now have a single vote. After that, voters can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the three referendum questions. You can choose to vote in both the election and the referendum, or just one, and you can answer one or all of the referendum questions without spoiling your ballot.
A ballot is spoiled if a voter enters their name or votes for a write-in candidate, but all spoiled ballots are counted as it remains a legitimate part of the democratic process for voters to reject “all of the above”. If you spoil your ballot by accident, the election officials will take it and replace it with a new one. Once the vote has been cast, the ballot paper is folded, it is placed in the ballot box and remains there till the boxes are opened later this evening to start the count.
See the polling stations below:
| Electoral District | General Election |
| West Bay North | West Bay New Testament Church of God 28A Boatswain Bay Rd. |
| West Bay West | Shirley Kidd Memorial Hall 36 Fountain Rd, West Bay |
| West Bay Central | Church of God at West Bay 108 Capt Reginald Parsons Dr, West Bay |
| West Bay South | John Gray Memorial United Church Hall 26 West Church Street, West Bay |
| George Town North | George Town Primary School 179 School Rd, George Town |
| George Town Central | George Town – Town Hall & GT Library 43 Fort St, George Town |
| George Town West | Cayman Prep School 242 Smith Road, George Town |
| George Town South | John Gray High School Gymnasium 135 Olympic Way, George Town |
| George Town East | First Baptist Church Hall 920A Crewe Rd, George Town |
| Red Bay | Red Bay Primary School 271 Shamrock Rd, George Town |
| Prospect | Prospect Primary School 169 Poindexter Rd, George Town |
| Savannah | Savannah Primary School 1659 Shamrock Rd, Bodden Town |
| Newlands | International College of the Cayman Islands 595 Hirst Rd, Bodden Town |
| Bodden Town West | Agricultural Grounds Pavilion 199 Lottery Rd, Bodden Town |
| Bodden Town East | Francine Gardner Hall (BT Primary School) 64 Condor Road, Bodden Town |
| North Side | Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre 923 North Side Rd |
| East End | William Allen McLaughlin Civic Centre 80 John Mclean Dr |
| Cayman Brac West & Little Cayman | West End Primary School 10 Cotton Tree Bay Rd, Cayman Brac |
| Cayman Brac East | Creek Primary School 28 Student Dr, Cayman Brac |
Check out the CNS Election Section interactive map to see who is running in each constituency.
See the list of candidates and their party affiliations here.
Category: Election News
The WBC contender’s brother was observed embracing volunteers and police officers at the polling station and casually asking voters whether they were ready to vote for his sibling and about their stand on the referendum questions. Unacceptable.
Wasting their damn time.
The younger of the two CBWLC candidates was seen at the West End Polling Station at about 7AM wearing a green wristlet on his right wrist with “Vote —–(his name)”.
One of the electors in line reported it to an election official. Not sure what happened after that, but thought the candidate was smart enough to realize this is not allowed!?
You should have gone down GTC and taken a look at the disgusting candidate down there.
I bet that bracelet really made a difference, and therefore I consider this election stolen! Storm the white house!
slash s
I don’t like the idea that when I go to vote I can see a page full on names – while the election person is crossing off my name.
It happened to me outside where they initially checked me id – and it happened again inside when I was asked to repeat my name, address and occupation.
No voter should be able to look down at the table of an election official and be able to see other names crossed off or not crossed off.
30@3:01pm – I see your point but it helped today because I was able to see that one of my family who voted in a WB constituency last election was on the list in a different WB constituency today. I was able to notify the family member to go to a different polling station. The family member had made no changes to their registration so how this happened is still unknown. The person was able to vote, but not who they planned to vote for.
But to your point, perhaps each voter is required to see their name crossed off. I don’t know Election Regulations.
Well organised on the Brac. I remain shocked at the amount of potential electors in the Cayman Islands who haven’t registered to vote.
You know what I really, REALLY don’t like about this (and past) elections? We vote in pencil. Why? Why not something indelible? It can’t be simply that we once purchased 30,000 ridiculously short pencils with no erasers.
REALLY don’t like that. Did I say I didn’t like that? Well, I don’t and think it smells.
You’re absolutely right – it’s a foolish thing that leaves room for corruption. As such, I’m almost certain it is by design.
I made sure to use just enough pressure to make the mark nearly impossible to remove without leaving an obvious impression, but not so much pressure that I punctured the paper. That’s the best I could do.
The process was thankfully smooth and painless; I was in and out of Baptist church (GTE) within 5 minutes!
The pencils can be donated to any golf course – am sure the golfers will appreciate access to the pencils.
Still 100 years behind as the politrikians!
My wife asked and it is allowed to use the pen you brought in for your ballot if you don’t trust the pencil. We used our pens, but I really am not worried that someone would get access to the ballots alone, unobserved before the tally is made. Wes is a VERY good Christian man, completely trustworthy and no doubt runs a tight ship on the elections office! I love that guy and would be thrilled to see him in any leadership post.
Thank you and agree. It’s not that I don’t trust the observers, or Mr. Wesley — I do. It’s just that such a blatant gap should not be there. Simple thing to buy $200 worth of pens or sharpies and negate the entire possibility of malfeasance.
I had a hanging chad while casting my vote.
Thanks and congratulations to all organisers.
It was a smooth well signposted and professionally managed process.
So proud of Cayman for highlighting the benefits of a society embedded in law and order.
So you have no problem when the Elections Office breaches the Data Protection Act? This ongoing breach is preventing many from registering to vote.
Zzzzz
Hope you stayed awake long enough to vote. If you didn’t vote, well, what are you doing on this page?