Elections office in limbo

Cayman’s electoral register has not been updated in eight months, lawmakers heard this week.

The database of electors, which was last updated in October 2010, is supposed to be revised every three months.

“That has not happened,” Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks told lawmakers at a Finance Committee on Monday, 20 June, because the magistrate who had been the revising officer for the Elections Office was no longer a magistrate.

The previous revising officer was former magistrate Grace Donalds. Her contract as magistrate expired in August last year and was not renewed.

Mr. Ebanks said nominations had been received from the court and a new magistrate had been designated the role of revising officer “a couple of weeks ago.”

The deputy governor said there had been a lapse in revising the Electoral Register list because revisions needed to be signed off by a magistrate.

Member for East End Arden McLean asked Mr. Ebanks whether a new supervisor of elections had been appointed. Kearney Gomez, who is now the chief officer of Works, Lands and Agriculture, was the supervisor of elections for the last election. No announcement about the appointment of a new supervisor of elections has been made.

“In the matter of the supervisor of elections appointed by the governor, I have not seen any announcement from him,” Mr. Ebanks said.

Mr. McLean asked if there had been no announcement about a new supervisor of elections, did that mean that Mr. Gomez still held that post, to which Mr. Ebanks answered: “I don’t have anything further to add.”

Pressed further by Mr. McLean, the deputy governor said there had also been no announcement that Mr. Gomez was no longer supervisor of elections.

On the Elections Office website, Mr. Gomez is still listed as the supervisor of elections. The page on the site listing elections officer is dated 6 January, 2009.