70,000 Bahamians Registered

70,000 Bahamians Registered: "May 30th, 2011
70,000 Bahamians Registered
By Sasha L. Lightbourne
To date, officials from the Parliamentary Registration Department have registered just over 70,000 people.

Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel told the Bahama Journal yesterday that that number has 'skyrocketed' since March when the number stood at 26,000.

He added that the number of people coming in to register has increased since the July 14 register closure date was announced.

'The numbers are going well on a daily basis and people are coming out to all our stations,' Mr. Bethel said.

'We just want to continue educating the public on where the stations are and the necessary requirements in order to ensure that they can register. We are also finding that people are showing up not only here in New Providence but also throughout the Family Islands at the various government administrative offices so we are hopeful that we will get the numbers to where we need to them to be.'

He also explained that he expects those people between the ages of 18-25 to only account for 12 per cent of the total people registered.

The department is projecting that between 160,000 and 170,000 people are eligible to vote.

Back on May 9, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that the register would close on July 14.

People who are not on the new register will be ineligible to vote once the election is called. 　

During the 2007 General Election, there were 150,000 persons registered and the parliamentary commissioner noted that in the previous register there were 144,000 registrants.

Applicants for registration must be citizens of The Bahamas, of full age, not subject to any legal incapacity and must be ordinarily resident in the constituency for a period no less than three months immediately preceding the day of registration.

'People must bring proof of citizenship with them when they come to register,' the parliamentary commissioner said.

'We are asking for a Bahamian passport. If people bring their birth certificate then we are likely to ask for other documents, because the birth certificate in and of itself may not be proof of citizenship for persons who were born since independence.'

Mr. Bethel explained that there is a challenge, however, when it comes to people producing documents to verify that they are Bahamian citizens.

Registration is taking place at the Parliamentary Department on Farrington Road, the Mall at Marathon, the Town Centre Mall, the Main Post Office, Elizabeth, Carmichael and South Beach Post Offices, the National Insurance Board on Baillou Hill Road, Lowe’s Pharmacy on Soldier Road and Commonwealth Bank in the Star Plaza.

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