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Secrecy of the Vote; a statement by the Cayman Islands Elections Office

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#CaymanIslands – October 24, 2019 – The integrity of our voting system is built on the secrecy of the vote.

The Cayman Islands Elections Law contains legal and procedural safeguards to avoid revealing the identity of voters when the ballot is being marked or counted.

The current Cayman Islands Elections Law (2017 Revision) has the following legal provisions:

1. Voters mark their ballots alone in a voting booth, except when assisted voting is requested and authorised by the voter.

2. Ballots are appropriately folded to conceal the voter’s choice before the ballots are deposited in the ballot box.

3. The ballots are designed to ensure that the voter cannot be identified at the time of the count.

4. If the voter marks the ballots with any identifiable marks the ballot is rejected. For example, if a voter writes his or her name on a ballot, that ballot is then rejected.

Additionally, The Referendum (People Initiated Referendum Regarding the Port) Bill 2019 calls for a national count.

This means all ballots cast in the 19 electoral districts will be collected at a central location for counting. The ballots, including mobile and postal ballots, will be mixed and divided into random segments for counting. The totals from each segment will be added together to give one national result. It is, therefore, impossible to determine how any individual or group voted.

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According to the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project, an international body aimed at supporting credible and transparent electoral processes, voting secrecy is vital for fairness.

“A secret vote is an essential integrity safeguard because it allows voters to cast their ballot in full independence. If a vote is not secret or can be identified during vote counting, some people might be intimidated into not voting as they had intended. Secrecy makes intimidation or bribery less effective,” the international body explains.

The systems in the Cayman Islands that will be utilised for the referendum are in keeping with these internationally accepted principles. The Referendum Bill and the Elections Law (2017) provides for the appointment of observers, local and international, to ensure that the referendum is carried out accordingly.

Any voter who feels threatened or unduly pressured to vote, not vote, vote a certain way, or to reveal how they voted, should report their concerns to the Elections Office or the Royal Cayman Islands Police.

The Supervisor of Elections, Wesley Howell, assures voters in the Cayman Islands that the Elections Law and the Elections Office staff take every precaution to ensure that votes will remain secret at the time of the count, regardless if the vote is submitted by postal ballot, mobile ballot or is cast in person on Referendum Day.

Mr Howell also added that Elections Office polling teams have been training since September to ensure that the Cayman Islands Elections Office continues to plan and execute elections and referendums that meet or exceed international best practices. He is confident that this referendum will be executed with the same quality as previous ones.

For further information contact: Suzette Ebanks

SOURCE:  CAYMAN ISLANDS GOVERNMENT NEWS

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Caribbean News

CARPHA Progresses to Eligibility for the First Disbursement of Pandemic Funding

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Following a landmark Public Signing Ceremony for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Technical Cooperation Agreement (“Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” [RG-T4387] Project) on December 14, 2023, in Trinidad, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to progress towards the start of implementation.

 CARPHA fulfilled the IDB’s nine conditions prior to first disbursement, achieving full eligibility on March 15, 2024, and is now eligible for the first disbursement. This milestone achievement in just 3 months after the signing speaks to the commitment of both CARPHA, the Executing Agency, and IDB, the Implementing Entity, toward the regional PF project with the objective of supporting the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) surveillance & early-warning systems (EWS), laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and in countries.

Since the signing of the Technical Cooperation Agreement and as part of the conditions prior to first disbursement, CARPHA has achieved the following key outputs (i) the development of the PF Project Operations Manual, Multi-annual Execution Plan, Procurement Plan, Financial Plan, Procedure for CARPHA’s Financial Reporting System; (ii) vacancy announcements for two tranches of consultants with the subsequent hiring of five (Technical Coordinator, Financial Specialist, Procurement Specialist, Operations Officer and Project Operations Coordinator) and (iii) the establishment of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) and Project Execution Steering Committee (PESC). The dedicated PEU will be responsible for execution according to its planned timelines, which will be led by the Dr. Lisa Indar, the Project Director (CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division).

 CARPHA, as the lead regional public health agency and an expression of Caribbean Cooperation in Health is mandated by its Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to support its 26 CARPHA Member States (CMS) in bolstering national systems and coordinating regional response to public health threats. The Agency works closely with regional and international agencies and uses regional mechanisms, surveillance systems, and networks for coordinating its public health response work.

In July 2023, the PF Governing Board announced that CARPHA’s regional entity proposal, entitled ‘Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Strengthened Integrated Early Warning Surveillance, Laboratory Systems and Workforce Development’ was successfully selected for the first round of financing. It was one of only 19 proposals selected from over 300 submissions and the only regional project. The three priority areas in the proposal are: (i) Comprehensive disease surveillance and EWS, (ii) Laboratory systems and (iii) Human resources and public health and community workforce capacity.

This project is expected to begin implementation in March 2024, starting off with a blended onboarding session. A Stakeholder Meeting with countries is tentatively planned for July 2024.

CARPHA remains dedicated to working together with the IDB, CARPHA Member States and the Pandemic Fund to successfully implement the regional proposal geared toward reducing the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean.

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Caribbean News

Men who had Murdered Man, Marley Higgs’ cell phone face Court

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Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Correspondent

The prosecution intends to try two young North Caicos men, both age 21 for the offense of possession of property of a murdered man, property that was stolen and landed in their possession.

The phone belonged to Peureton ‘Marley’ Higgs, who is believed to have been an innocent gunned down at his apartment complex in the Glass Shack area in a spray of bullets on February 2 that killed another man and wounded two others, including a ten-year-old little girl.

The cell phone was described as white in colour, an iPhone, in a hard black case. 

On Monday, March 18th, JEFFVANO HANDFIELD of North Caicos pleaded not guilty to the offense, and the matter was adjourned to April 2024. He was granted bail in the matter.

A second North Caicos man was charged similarly.  

SARENO CAPELLAN aka, Kino Williams is the second individual brought before the court pertaining to the said cellphone. He appeared in court a week after JEFFVANO HANDFIELD, the date being Monday March 25th 2024.

The case for the Crown is that both men sometime in February of this year possessed the cellphone knowing or suspecting it to be stolen property.

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Caribbean News

Supreme Court Closed for Easter

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NOTICE is hereby given that the Easter Recess shall commence on Friday 29th April, 2024 and end on Friday 5th April, 2024. During the Easter Recess Judge Selochan will be available to deal only with matters that are urgent or require prompt attention.

Court Business During the Easter Recess

A person who wishes to have a matter heard during the recess must file a certificate of urgency along with an affidavit, which must set out the reasons why the matter is urgent or requires prompt attention. The matter will not be listed during the recess unless the Judge deems it fit for urgent hearing.

Opening Hours During the Easter Holiday

The Supreme Court’s last sitting day for the first term is Thursday 28th March, 2024. The Court will officially resume sittings on Monday 8th April, 2024. The Supreme Court Offices in both Grand Turk and Providenciales will continue to operate while the Court is not sitting during the recess.

The Court Office will be closed on the following public holidays:

  • Friday 29th March, 2024 (Good Friday) CLOSED
  • Monday 1st April, 2024 (Easter Monday) CLOSED

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