Elections Office gets $1.2M bump for cruise vote

Cabinet has approved a $1.2 million increase in funding for the Elections Office to hold the upcoming referendum on cruise berthing.

The funding was green-lighted at Cabinet’s 30 July meeting after government approved conducting the referendum “on the development of cruise berthing to support the cruise tourism industry”, which is expected to be held before the end of 2024.

Tourism and Ports Minister Kenneth Bryan, who called for the referendum, said the upcoming vote on cruise berthing is seeking a “directive” from the electorate and does not back any proposed plan to introduce piers.

The vote, announced at the end of July, has been received with varying reactions as voters on different sides of the issue await more information about the referendum plans.

Bryan has indicated that work is progressing on formulating the referendum question and the legislative framework needed to take a motion to the Parliament to formalise the vote.

The minister said the government was looking at a date either close to the end of October or in mid-November.

Based on existing election rules, people applying now to register to vote will not be eligible to cast their ballots in the port referendum later this year. They will, however, be able to take part in the 2025 general election.

The Elections Office confirmed that only the people who have registered before 1 July will be eligible to vote in the port referendum when it is triggered this year. Government officially announced the referendum on 31 July, four weeks after the voter registration deadline.

“Should the referendum be held between October 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, the Official List for October 1, 2024 will be the list used. Unfortunately, persons applying before the next deadline which is October 1, 2024 will not be Officially registered until January 1, 2025,” the Elections Office said in an emailed response to Cayman Compass queries.

The revised electoral roll has 23,529 registered voters, which is expected to become official when the new list is published on 1 Oct., an increase of 65 voters over the last official roll posted 1 July.