By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said officials expect 20,000 first-time voters this election cycle, insisting there is sufficient time to ensure no one will be disenfranchised.

He said the Parliamentary Registration Department will soon roll out “extended registration” to ensure as many people as possible can be accommodated.

On Monday, Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis told Parliament the process was “vexing” for some first-time registrants, adding that centres should have already been opened to allow transfers to other constituencies where needed.

Yesterday, Mr Dames suggested the concerns were Mr Davis’ attempt at “playing politics” with the issue of voter registration. He maintained that compared to previous years where registration numbers hovered around 200,000, this year was different due to COVID-19 restrictions and the recently passed Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill.

The legislation passed in Parliament last month allows for a permanent voter register to be established for the first time in the country, meaning people who registered to vote for the 2017 election will not need to register again.

“I am not going to begin this process of playing politics with the voters’ registration process,” Mr Dames told reporters outside Cabinet yesterday. “(The) Parliamentary Registration Department is open. It’s open for new registrants (and) anyone wishing to transfer between 9.30am and 4.30pm. That hasn’t changed. The office in Grand Bahama, same thing and every administrative office throughout the Family Islands, same thing.

“So, we would have recently passed legislation that would have ushered in a permanent register. So, we don’t have 200,000 people to register this cycle. We only have 20,000 and so we should be rolling out an extended registration process very shortly.”

He continued: “We will have more than enough time to register approximately 20,000 people and the process is ongoing. So, as far as those comments no one has ever approached me about it nor the leadership team at the Parliamentary Registration Department, so this is good to go out in public to say these things, but nothing has changed with respect to registration.

“If you are seeking to register you can go and do it right now.”

The minister said officials were working to ensure the plan put in place for registration is “COVID-19 proof”.

“Remember now, we don’t have 200,000 persons to register as in the past because we have a permanent register. We figure we have anywhere in the neighbourhood of about 20,000 persons and so we’re coming out (with) a plan that will be a COVID proof plan as well to ensure that persons are able to register in a very safe environment.

“Our plan will also put focus on the elderly and those with co-morbidities and so forth and so we are very much on top of what it is that we’re doing.

“I am very confident and very shortly we will be announcing who the acting parliamentary registrar is and that person is currently in place now and they are working on their plan. Their team and I have every confidence that we will be able to do whatever it is that we need to do to ensure that we get those persons who are qualified to register, registered in the quickest possible time.”

Philip Turner, the most recent parliamentary commissioner, was reappointed as senior undersecretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture several weeks ago, according to published reports.

The creation of a continuous voters’ register was recommended by the former parliamentary commissioner in response to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill says: “A person registered as a voter entitled to vote at an election on the current register, shall remain registered as a voter entitled to vote at an election on the continuous register, unless his name is removed from the register by the parliamentary commissioner.”