A Sister Islands political candidate is calling for the Elections Office to provide mobile voting for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman voters living and working on Grand Cayman, so they don’t have to travel home to vote.
Lonny Tibbetts, the independent candidate for Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman, said he is appealing to residents on the Sister Islands to “call, email and make all relevant persons know that we are demanding a mobile vote for all Sister Islands voters living on Grand Cayman”.
He told the Compass he was at a “loss for words” over the lack of mobile voting for constituents in the two smaller islands, which he said disenfranchises electors who are living temporarily on Grand Cayman and who may consider the cost of airfare a deterrent to voting.
In a social media post, he asked why Sister Islands voters “must bear the cost and inconvenience of traveling just to exercise our right to vote?”
To fly from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac and back on 30 April, Election Day, costs approximately US$150, a check of the Cayman Airways reservations website over the weekend showed.
“The Elections Office’s refusal to allow mobile voting on Grand Cayman for Sister Islands voters places an undue burden on all of us, and has effectively made it harder for us to participate in the democratic process,” Tibbetts said, adding that the matter raises questions about fairness and equal access to voting.
The Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell, however, told the Compass the provision of mobile voting facilities for residents who live on an island in Cayman other than where they are registered to vote was out of the hands of the Elections Office.
He noted that Section 50 of the Elections Law stipulates the limited circumstances under which mobile voting is allowed. These are if the voter is in hospital, a rest home or other institution; is an elderly person at home; is blind or otherwise physically incapable of going in person to a polling station; or has a job that prevents them from attending a polling station.
“What Mr. Tibbetts is asking is in relation to anyone outside of their electoral jurisdiction applying for mobile voting,” he said.
He insisted that for the Elections Office to grant that request would be unlawful and contrary to the provisions of the legislation.
“If voters apply for mobile voting and meet the criteria, we are legally required to permit them to vote by mobile voting,” he said.
“Conversely, if they do not meet the requirements for mobile voting, it would be unlawful to allow those persons to vote by mobile voting.”
Some Sister Islands residents will be voting on Grand Cayman, Howell said, but only because they are, or are scheduled to be, in George Town Hospital or Health City on Election Day, and will have applied for and been granted mobile voting in advance.
He added that mobile voting demands the entire polling team, including presiding officers, poll clerks, observers and police officers.
“It’s not a process that is intended for mass voting,” he said.
Mobile voting on Little Cayman
A limited exception is made for the residents of Little Cayman. The tiny island is part of the constituency of Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman, the official polling station for which is at West End Primary School on the Brac.
On 24 April, a polling station will be set up at the hurricane shelter on Little Cayman, where local electors registered on the island can vote.
However, voters can’t simply turn up on that day and cast their ballot. They must register for mobile voting beforehand. The deadline to do so is 17 April.
Howell said the Elections Office would be flying a full team to the island that day.
Postal ballots are also not an option for residents of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac living or working in Grand Cayman, as that only applies to residents who will be outside the Cayman Islands on Election Day.