The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

TALL Pines MP Leslie Miller yesterday railed against officials at various voter registration centres and accused them of encouraging voter apathy, charging that Bahamians are not registering to vote because they are being “frustrated” by workers who “don’t have the slightest damn idea what the hell they’re doing”.

He claimed some people were being turned away from the Mall at Marathon’s voter registration centre, while one man was given the run around at a western post office location.

He called on the Christie administration to “put a stop to these people”.

Mr Miller also criticised those “typical Bahamians” who waited until “the last damn day” to register to vote and subsequently complained of the lengthy wait times involved in the process.

His comments came as scores of Bahamians queued at registration centres. A number of persons present at the Parliamentary Registration Department’s Farrington Road building complained of having waited for hours to register to vote, with some telling The Tribune they were present at the complex from 9am, and that shortly after noon, they had yet to be ushered inside.

Mr Miller made his comments to reporters while trying to assist members of his constituency in the registration process.

“The department has a good array of staff in here,” Mr Miller told reporters when questioned on the long queues. “Remember, these people wait until the last damn day. They had what, six months? Typical Bahamians, you know? They wait late for everything. That’s why they frustrated today. They got to just go in line and wait.

“(Officials) say everybody who is there they will register. This place was opened until 1 o’clock on Friday when I came here - 1am. So if they on the line they will (be) registered, they just got to wait, that’s all. That’s what happens when you come the last minute.”

Mr Miller told reporters that despite the long lines and wait times, he had brought some of his constituents along so that they can “hurry up and register to vote.” However, Mr Miller claimed his efforts were being thwarted by the actions of officials stationed at the various registration centres.

“The problem we have is they went to the mall - the mall people telling Bahamians they ain’t registering people no more,” he said. “I don’t know where the hell they get that authority from. Another gentlemen I took out, we went out west by the post office. He has his passport, a valid passport that is expired. She tell him he got to go get an affidavit.

“Some of these people don’t know what the hell they doing you know, and the minister them got to put a stop to these people,” he continued. “Of course it’s too late now after today, but that’s what’s been happening in this country. That’s why a lot of Bahamians are not registering, because they’re being frustrated by the people who set up these vote stations, who don’t have the slightest damn idea what the hell they doing. Not the slightest.”

Voter registration for the impending election officially ended at 5pm yesterday.

Parliamentary Commissioner Sherlyn Hall would not specify yesterday what would happen to those persons who did not join the lines to register by the legal closing time, only stating: “We have police here who will assist us with crowd control.”