From the Supervisor of Elections – Vol II No 3: Lists

From the Supervisor of Elections
Vol II Issue No 3: Lists

In the years between elections, the electoral office produces 26 lists, but in an election year it produces 28. This year, the electoral office is on track, we have produced and published 24 lists; four more will be produced to complete the year.

Each month, the office produces a Monthly List (ML) and a Revised Monthly List (RML). The ML is the list of all persons who enrolled for that month and is produced by the 15th of the month following. Thus, those who enrolled in January will be produced on a list in mid February. The people on that list are subject to objection by other registered voters.

The RML is the list of persons who previously enrolled and who were subject to public scrutiny for a month. It contains the names of persons who had enrolled two months prior. This list is to be published between the 15th and end of the appropriate month. So those who enrolled in January who passed public scrutiny would appear on a list published any time after mid-March.

In January 2020, an Annual Register of Voters (ARV) was also produced. It contained the names of ALL the persons who had enrolled and been confirmed – or activated to vote – up to the end of November 2019. The law requires that this list be issued by January 31st of each year. So the list that was produced in 2020 contained everyone who had registered years ago as well as those who registered from December 2018 up to November 2019. Each and every name on that list is again subject to inspection and objection, and each objection must be pursued and processed. After this processing is done, a Revised Annual Register of Voters (RARV) is published. This year, it was published on September 30th.

Meanwhile, an election was called that required a list of its own, the Voters List (VL). This was produced on 22nd May. This list, by law, contained all the names on the ARV that was produced in January plus the names on the RML for December 2019, January, February and March 2020. Persons who enrolled from April onwards could not have been included as they had not yet been fully processed, and the processing period ends on the 15th of the month.

To accompany the VL, a Voter Verification List, VVL, also known as a picture list is produced, but its distribution is restricted by law to the Presiding Officer and the Agent of each candidate.

This VL and the VVL are issued by constituency. It is further divided into one per polling station. Each polling station would have one posted on the outside and the Electoral Officials would have the other.

An astute and enraged member of the public enquired how her name did not appear on the ARV of January nor the RARV produced in September although she registered in December 2019 and her name appeared on the VL used on June 5th. She demanded to know who removed her name. We welcome this level of scrutiny, but thankfully, this only happens every 5 years or so.

Her vote was not illegal and her name was never removed. Her registration, having occurred in December 2019 will appear on the Annual Register of Voters that will be produced in January 2021.

There would be many such persons, none of whom have anything to fear. This is simply part of the process to ensure one person gets one vote in the right place so that there is fairness to all.