The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

REFERENDUM results from Fort Charlotte, Fox Hill, Marathon and Sea Breeze – the remaining four undisclosed constituencies from Tuesday’s vote – were released to the public yesterday, with all four adhering to result trends already set earlier this week. (RESULTS HERE)

However, the results issued by the Parliamentary Registration Department came with a myriad of varying figures and apparent incorrect totals identified by The Tribune.

The final four constituencies firmly rejected all four referendum questions – with the widest margin on question four, which sought to prevent discrimination of any type based on sex, which was defined as being male or female.

The fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill, the most controversial, was abhorred by many in the religious community who viewed it as a means to open the door to same-sex marriage throughout the Bahamas.

In Fort Charlotte, an estimated 5,427 voters were registered, but only 2,705 - around 50 per cent - cast ballots on Tuesday, according to The Tribune’s assessment of the data. The figures prepared by the Parliamentary Registration Department did not include the number of spoiled ballots.

Voters in that constituency rejected question one by 1,468 “no” votes compared to 1,237 “yes” votes; question two by 1,723 to 945; question three by 1,590 to 1,077 and question four by 1,933 to 710.

In Fox Hill, there were a total of 5,065 voters. It is estimated that only 47 per cent – 2,642 voters – turned up to the polls based on The Tribune’s calculations.

On question one, 1,051 voted in favour of the amendment while 1,591 rejected it. On question two, 711 supported while 1,925 rejected. The third question was rejected by a vote of 896 to 1,744 and so was the fourth question by a vote of 492 to 2,052.

In Marathon, 49 per cent - 2,526 of the registered 5,015 voters - came out to vote on Tuesday.

Question one failed by 1,084 to 1,435. Question two failed by 836 to 1,681 votes. The third question failed 973 to 1,548 votes and the fourth question failed by 610 to 1,916.

Lastly in Sea Breeze, an estimated 5,252 voters were registered, but only 2,811 cast ballots – around 46 per cent – according to The Tribune’s assessment.

Voters rejected question one by 1,732 to 1,068 votes. On question two, 775 voters were in favour while 2,036 were against it. Question three failed by 924 to 1,884 votes and question four failed by 523 to 2,285 votes.

Moreover, Killarney, with all 13 polling stations now reported, has become the fourth constituency to approve question one – with 1,813 ”yes” votes to 1,358 ”no”, according to the figures released yesterday.

According to the data, the constituencies of Montagu, St Anne’s as well as Central and South Abaco also had majority votes for question one.

Voters in Killarney were tied on question three, according to the data released yesterday, with each question getting 1,581 votes.

Other completed constituencies include Elizabeth and MICAL.

As of Wednesday evening, Elizabeth was presented without polling division 12 where 353 voters were registered.

Voters in polling division 12 approved the passage of all four bills.

On question one, 163 voted yes, 63 voted no.

On question two, 137 voted yes, 85 voted no.

On question three, 144 voted yes, 81 voted no.

On question four, 113 voted yes, 105 voted no.

However, these results were not enough to offset totals in the constituency - all four bills were rejected.

MICAL had six of its 12 polling divisions outstanding before the final results were issued on Thursday.

Once those remaining divisions were added, questions one was rejected by 108 votes (204 yes, 312 no) question two was rejected by 183 votes (171 yes, 353 no), question three was rejected by 146 votes (186 yes, 332 no) and question four was rejected by 318 votes (123 yes, 441 no).