500,000 eligible voters still not enrolled for September 19 election

Tuesday, 7 July 2020

With the general election just two months away, at least 500,000 eligible voters still have not enrolled.

Chief electoral officer Alicia Wright, in an interview with Radio Tarana, said half a million eligible voters still had not enrolled for the September 19 polls.

Wright said this year's election would be an even bigger challenge with the inclusion of two referendums - personal use of cannabis and voluntary euthanasia - and the issue of safety amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

'This year we not only have the general election, but we also have two referendums this time, and what we also need to be doing is preparing for Covid-19, making sure when people go into the voting places they will be confident and safe when they walk in there,' Wright said.

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'There are 500,000, or half a million eligible voters not currently enrolled, so what we're working on right now is we've sent out enrolment packs to everybody we have on our books.

'But we want all of those people who aren't enrolled, or who have changed houses or address, to enrol so that they're ready to go before the election,' Wright said.

'And that's really important this year because if you're enrolled early, then that means you get information about the referendums, where the voting places are, it also means you're in and out of the voting places faster.'

People will be able to vote from September 5, a full two weeks before the election date. At the last election over half of voters voted early.

• Click on the audio to listen to the full interview with Sanjesh Narain