With the publication of the first single seat constituency voters list, the United Bermuda Party is hard at work checking its accuracy.

Party Leader Grant Gibbons said that the UBP had already handed over some information on a Devonshire constituency to the Parliamentary Registrar and was awaiting a reaction.

"We are going to go through the list as comprehensively as we can to see what kind of changes have been made, particularly to see whether some of the information we have provided about voters who have moved constituencies have been taken into account."

He said the party's objective is "to work as cooperatively as we can with the Parliamentary Registrar to make sure that the new list for the single seat constituency are as accurate as possible".

Since moving from annual registration to a system of rolling year round registration, Dr. Gibbons said, people have not been updating their registrations as required by law when they move from one constituency to another.

"It's very difficult to get an appreciation for this unless you are actually out there on the doorstep knocking on doors and comparing your findings on the doorstep with who's actually on the draft list."

The UBP's canvassing will be undertaken on an Island-wide basis.

"We have already submitted some information to the Parliamentary Registrar in one constituency and we look forward to getting the Parliamentary Registrar's reaction to this before we submit any more information."

He described the move as a "test case" and said the party's findings so far "showed a fair degree of difference between the actual draft list and what we are finding on the doorstep" and was within their estimates that the voters' list in some constituencies could be up to 35 percent accurate.

"With much smaller constituencies if you have two to three families who are improperly registered - people who are living elsewhere and are voting in the wrong district that's sufficient to make a marked difference in the outcome."

The list's accuracy was essential for a fair election, he said.

And Dr. Gibbons added there were a number of young people who had recently reached voting age but had not bothered to register.

The UBP has consistently called for a wholesale re-registration of voters to make sure the list is accurate.

The register can be viewed at post offices across the Island.

It was adapted electronically from the list under the old dual seat system and published so that voters can see where they are. The Parliamentary Registrar said yesterday she would welcome comments on its accuracy.