The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Parliamentary Registration Department yesterday announced 26 new voter registration stations in New Providence and Grand Bahama, in a move to improve sluggish voter registration numbers.

In an interview with The Tribune on Wednesday, Parliamentary Commissioner Sherlyn Hall said his office has not relented in its quest to “pull voters in.”

He added that as of yesterday, 75,404 people had registered to vote.

According to Mr Hall, his office had opted to start several “modern” features, all designed to “improve” the registration process.

In addition to expanded operating hours, the department has 23 centres throughout various communities in New Providence. That comes in addition to its ongoing centres at various post offices and both the Marathon and Town Centre Malls.

When asked about the department’s line of thinking behind how the new centres would work moving forward, Mr Hall referred questions to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Harrison Thompson, the new lead organiser of the registration centres.

Mr Thompson, present at the department on Wednesday, said his inclusion in the ongoing process was simple: “Any eligible voter, we are prepared to get them registered.”

He told The Tribune: “Today, there will be 23 new centres throughout New Providence and three more in Grand Bahama opened and ready to go. They will open to accommodate voters where they live, in their communities.

“These new centres will run in addition to the stations that already have opened now. They will stay open throughout this process because we are working to make this process as easy and trouble-free as possible.

“We will also include more mobile teams that will go to various government agencies starting next week, those, again in addition to the teams we have mobilised now.

“What we are trying to do is give everyone an opportunity to get registered,” he said.

The mobile teams and the stationary teams are all equipped to handle every possible situation that could arise out there in the field, officials said.

“Unless potential voters go way off course, we have authorised our teams in a manner in which they are prepared for every possible situation. Any eligible voter, we are prepared to get registered,” he added.

“Bahamians normally wait for the last minute and we know that it is getting close to that time, so the plan is to be ready and place all the necessary resources in the right places.”

He continued: “We are optimistic that we can get quality numbers with these new initiatives.”

In December, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that the announcement of the next election date could hinge on the progress of voter registration, which has been sluggish.

Mr Christie, speaking about low voter registration numbers on the sidelines of the 2016 Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade, admitted that the process had been “a struggle” for his administration, pushing officials “back to the drawing board” as they look for ways to encourage voters to “support the process”.

The Centreville MP said he could make a determination on an election date as early as February “if we get the numbers right”.

That declaration has led the department to expand on several initiatives and programmes, all geared toward increasing registration numbers.