Mobile voting starts this week

Elections Office staff will kick off mobile voting Monday in West Bay’s four electoral districts, before heading to Grand Cayman’s other districts later in the week.

Almost 350 people have signed up for mobile voting, Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell told the Cayman Compass Thursday. The deadline to apply is 6 April.

“We start off on Monday covering all of the West Bay electoral districts: West Bay North, West Bay Central, West Bay South and West Bay West; that will start off at 9am for those that we are visiting at home,” he said.

Those individuals, he explained, are elderly voters with physical or other disabilities that would prevent them from being able to vote in their polling stations.

Additionally, he said the Elections Office will have a stationary unit set up mainly for election workers and individuals involved with services, such as police and fire officers, who are unlikely to be able to go to the polls on Election Day.

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Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell. – Photo: Alvaro Serey

“That will continue throughout the entire week…  and we’ll cover all of the electoral districts.

Voters in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman will have an opportunity in April, he said.

The office will have to repeat mobile voting in the electoral districts once more in April, he said.

“The reasoning for that is that we have a new list of electors that comes out on the 1st of April. So anybody that’s a new voter or anybody that has a change of address, which changes their electoral district. We can’t poll them until the list becomes effective on April 1st,” he said.

Since 1 April is the day before the long Easter weekend, Howell said mobile voting will be conducted on 8 and 9 April for “two days of what we call the mop-up mobile so that those persons who fall into that category that require and qualify for mobile voting, would be able to vote”.

Voters unable to head to the mobile voting locations, such as those in hospital or a residential care facility, will be visited by a mobile team from the Elections Office between 9am and 6pm, an Election Office statement Wednesday said.

“In all locations except Little Cayman, if voting is not completed by 6pm, the team will continue polling voters the following day during the same hours,” according to the statement.

Mobile voting is available to any registered voter who is on island and unable to visit a polling station on Election Day because of the general nature of that person’s occupation.

Application forms for mobile and postal voting are available at the Elections Office website.

“For the majority of electoral districts, there are two opportunities for mobile voting. Those who qualify for mobile voting and are first-time voters or whose change of address officially comes into effect in the 1 April Register of Electors, will be able to vote after 1 April 2021 on their electoral district’s mobile voting date,” the statement added.

The Elections Act (2021 Revision) permits individuals who are absent or are likely to be absent from the islands on Election Day to vote via postal ballot.

Photo: GIS

Howell reiterated his call for voters who are planning a return trip to the Cayman Islands at the end of March or early April to apply for postal voting at their earliest convenience to limit the amount of mobile voting the staff will have to conduct at isolation facilities.

“The Elections Office continues to work closely with Public Health officials on safe mobile voting arrangements for those remaining voters who will be quarantining in the days leading up to and including Election Day and were not able to vote via postal ballot. Tentative dates for mobile isolation/quarantine voting have been set for 10 and 11 April,” the statement added.

The deadline for applying for special isolation/quarantine mobile voting is also Tuesday, 6 April.

Mobile voting schedule:

Electoral District Polling Location Polling Address Mobile Polling Day/s

Between 8am and 1pm

West Bay North First Assembly of God Church Hall 100 Finch Drive, West Bay Monday, 22 March Friday, 9 April
West Bay West West Bay Public Library 204 Reverend Blackman Road, West Bay Monday, 22 March Friday, 9 April
West Bay Central The Church of God at West Bay Hall 108 Capt. Reginald Parsons Drive, West Bay Monday, 22 March Friday, 9 April
West Bay South John Gray Memorial United Church Hall 26 West Church Street, West Bay Monday, 22 March Friday, 9 April
George Town North St. George’s Anglican Church Hall 66 Courts Road, George Town Wednesday, 24 March Thursday, 8 April
George Town Central Elmslie Memorial United Church Hall 48B Harbour Drive, George Town Thursday, 25 March Thursday, 8 April
George Town West Church of God Universal Church Hall 2 Dorset Road (off Walkers Road), George Town Thursday, 25 March Thursday, 8 April
George Town South South Sound Community Centre 1012 South Church Street, George Town Wednesday, 24 March Thursday, 8 April
George Town East Agape Family Worship Centre Hall 50B Fairbanks Road, George Town Thursday, 25 March Thursday, 8 April
Red Bay Seafarers Hall 11 Victory Avenue, George Town Thursday, 25 March Thursday, 8 April
Prospect Moravian Church Hall 497 Poindexter Road, George Town Wednesday, 24 March Thursday, 8 April
Savannah Savannah United Church Hall 17 Astral Way, Bodden Town Tuesday, 23 March Friday, 9 April
Newlands International College of the Cayman Islands 595 Hirst Road, Bodden Town Tuesday, 23 March Friday, 9 April
Bodden Town West Agricultural Grounds Pavilion 199 Lottery Road, Bodden Town Tuesday, 23 March Friday, 9 April
Bodden Town East Webster Memorial United Church Hall 266 Bodden Town Road, Bodden Town Tuesday, 23 March Friday, 9 April
North Side Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre 923 North Side Road, North Side Friday, 26 March Thursday, 8 April
East End William Allen McLaughlin Civic Centre 80 John McLean Drive, East End Friday, 26 March Thursday, 8 April
Cayman Brac West & Little Cayman Aston Rutty Centre 264 Ashton Reid Drive, Cayman Brac Friday, 9 April N/A
Little Cayman only Public Works Department Workers Building 204 Spot Bay Road, Little Cayman Thursday, 8 April N/A
Cayman Brac East Veteran’s & Seamen’s Society of Cayman Brac & Little Cayman Centre 205 Ashton Reid Drive, Cayman Brac Thursday, 8 April N/A