The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said concerns about people accused of fraud remaining on the voter register will be addressed at polling stations, arguing that party agents are there to challenge any suspicious voter when names are called.

Responding to claims by Free National Movement candidate Heather Hunt, who has highlighted people charged with fraud whose names remain on the register, Mr Munroe said the system relies on party representatives to act in real time rather than sit back and complain.

“They’re going to sit down when the name is called and watch that person be given a ballot and watch that person be given a ballot?” he said during a press conference yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister.

“Her agent is going to sit down and watch that? My agent will not sit down and watch that. The COI's agent will not sit down and watch that. The FNM is making excuses.

“They're saying they're not going to bring it to the attention of the parliamentary register, and their agency will be completely delinquent? Things that they know about they're not going to do anything about? Well, if their people are delinquent, they should choose better agents.”

During an FNM rally on Tuesday night, Ms Hunt raised concerns about the integrity of the voter registry, citing cases of people allegedly involved in fraudulent activity who remain listed.

“We were walking in Elizabeth when we knocked on the door,” she said. “You heard about it on social media. You read about it in the newspaper. We found a foreign national with two voter cards. She was charged, she was fined, she was barred from voting in the election and barred from ever registering for the next three years. But guess what? Today, her name remains on the parliamentary registry.

“We opened social media and found a wanted poster of a person registered in Elizabeth, wanted in relation to fraudulent passports, wanted in relation to fraudulent documents. Guess what? He was charged on Friday, out on bail, and guess what, FNMs? His name remains on the parliamentary registry.”

Mr Munroe, on the other hand, said Bahamians participating in the advance poll should have full confidence in a system whose “record speaks for itself.”

He said safeguards include ID checks, matching voters to the official register, trained election workers, party agents at polling stations and international observers.

He said errors can be documented and corrected through established procedures and stressed that deceased people or anyone using a fraudulent voter’s card cannot cast a ballot because voters must appear in person and be properly identified.

“What sets a serious democracy apart is not the absence of errors, but the presence of safeguards to catch and correct it,” he said. “Ours have those safeguards. They have worked election after election under both PLP and FNM administrations, a fact that former prime ministers from both parties have publicly affirmed.”

He urged Bahamians to raise concerns through proper channels and said stealing an election would require a massive conspiracy involving election workers, party agents and observers.

“That means the agent of the PLP, the agent of the FNM, the agent of the coalition, and the agent of the independent and then they would also have to be conspiring with all of the foreign election observers that have been bought in. That's a fanciful tale,” he said.

FNM candidate Travis Robinson has said approved voters in his constituency were left off the advance poll register days before voting.

He estimated nine people — including three expected to be overseas on Election Day — were omitted despite receiving certificates authorising them to vote.

Yesterday, the Parliamentary Registration Department said voters whose names do not appear on the list should ensure they present a valid Form L, adding that those still awaiting the document will receive it before polling.

Meanwhile, Progressive Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell said the party supports the Parliamentary Commissioner and staff and has seen “nothing nefarious” in the process.

“What we see is the typical response of a desperate organisation that believes it's about to lose, and what they want to do is to try and set up a pretext for their lack of support in the population by spinning these yarns about problems with the electoral process,” Mr Mitchell said.

He said administrative and technical issues can arise, but are routinely resolved and noted PLP representatives have raised concerns with election officials and seen them corrected.

Mr Mitchell also pointed to remarks by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, urging FNM supporters to focus on turnout rather than claims of a stolen election.

“What we don't understand is why, in God's name, as a major party in this country, you've depended on the electoral process all of these years, you helped to design the present legislation, it has worked for you, your own former prime minister and former leader, Hubert Ingraham, told you that the guardrails are there and to drop this farcical nonsense that you're going on with, but you keep doing it.”

“What you're doing is you're sending information overseas that's undermining the very democracy that you say that you support. So it's childish, it's petty, it's silly, it doesn't make any sense. It's illogical.”

He said the system is not perfect but is functioning properly and will deliver a free and fair election http://192.168.2.148/i4/IDSN/workspace/Pages# reflecting the will of the Bahamian people.

“If you want to set up a pretext for why you're losing, that's your business,” he said. “But do not undermine the democracy which we have by competing by parroting this nonsense about something being wrong with the electoral process, that's our view.”