Come election day, people who remain isolated as part of mandatory COVID quarantine protocols may not be able to cast their votes if the Elections Office and the Public Health Department are unable to come up with a solution.
“The worst-case scenario [is] anyone that is in isolation at that time, may not be able to vote because they can’t come to the polls and we can’t go to them,” said Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell Thursday on Rooster 101’s morning talk show, Cayman Crosstalk.
Howell said the risk of people becoming disenfranchised stems from the limitations of the Elections Act, which sets out three means for voting – in-person, mobile and postal.
In-person balloting is automatically ruled out for people who are required to remain in mandatory isolation as part of the jurisdiction’s ongoing efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Howell said the legal limitations of postal ballots also rule that option out for quarantining voters.
“We are only allowed by law to dispatch postal ballots for persons off island; on island, we are limited to voting on election day or via mobile voting,” Howell said.
In order to change this, he said, there would have to be another sitting of Parliament before its dissolution on Sunday, 14 Feb., which is unlikely.
“As of Sunday, it would not be a possibility because any of the changes to that aspect of the Elections Act would require the Parliament to be sitting and consider,” said Howell. “So, our legislation, as it is now, is what we are seeing.”
The only potential option that remains is for mobile balloting, under which election officials would go to the quarantine locations, as they would do with shut-ins who are unable to attend the polling stations in person.
However, even if elections officials attend the isolation locations, Howell said there is no guarantee they will be given access to the quarantined voters.
“So, I will have some serious discussions with Public Health to see if that is possible,” said Howell. “If we can use… volunteers, at this point, who are trained in PPE (personal protective equipment) and those sorts of things” he said his staff could then see if they could get into those locations to enable people to cast their votes. “But that all depends on the Public Health aspect of this.”
While it is not known how many voters will be affected this year due to quarantining, there are on average 800 people in isolation at any given time. During the 2017 elections, the winning candidates in some districts were determined by as few as 50 votes. For this reason, Howell said, his team is trying to find a solution.
“We are concerned about people exercising their franchise, but we have to operate within the confines of the law,” he said. But with no solution in sight Howell is urging people to be mindful when travelling on or about election day.
“I would caution folks especially when it comes to April 14, if you don’t need to travel don’t be travelling at that point [or] you would be forcing yourself into isolation or quarantine,” he said.
Additional COVID-19 implications for elections
In order to comply with the various COVID-suppression regulations, Howell said his team has implemented several safeguards ahead of the elections, that would be in place on the day.
“It is going to be the biggest turn-out” in terms of the number of people since Cayman has been in lockdown, he said.
‘We are procuring the three-layer surgical mask for folks who will show up on that day with no mask. So, [we’ll] just ask them to wear that for everybody’s safety,” Howell added.
In order to comply with the current restrictions on public gathering, Howell said they are trying to get as many people as they can to vote before election day, which could only be done through mobile voting.
“We have also added staff members in relation to what we call field officers – that’s the first person that checks the list when you enter the polling station area.”
Howell said, similar to previous general elections, this one will see a limited number of people at each station counting the ballots.
“Typically, the count of staff is [in] quite a sterile environment,” he said. “So, we have our team which is about three persons, we have an agent or two for each candidate. So, there is not more than 10, 12 persons in there.”
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