On September 26, I tabled the Absentee Voting Act 2025 for the consideration of the House of Assembly and Bermuda. This Bill enshrines in law that all eligible voters living in Bermuda should be able to vote in an election, even if they can’t be present on Election Day — or any other early voting day.

For example, this means that students, people overseas on medical treatment, or on work trips would be able to vote remotely.

Once again, thank you to those who volunteered their time to draft this legislation.

It is crucial to underscore that unlike the governing party, the Opposition does not have a team of legislative drafters. People gave up time in between their regular responsibilities to put this together, and for that I am extremely grateful.

I want to ensure the community is clear on the Act and the One Bermuda Alliance’s intentions with this legislation, so our hard work is not in vain.

The Progressive Labour Party, in its response to the tabling, raised some concerns about consultation, which is the pot calling the kettle black. The PLP being consultative is not one of its strongest attributes.

However, I will remind the public that the desire to table this Act was inspired by the consistent advocacy by a number of outspoken youth associations, activists and political candidates.

Names such as Bermuda Youth Connect, Bermuda Is Love, Taj-Donville Outerbridge, Jahdia Spencer and others have been very vocal, and we wanted them to know that their plight was not falling on deaf ears.

The community is clear: it wants a more inclusive democracy.

My colleagues and I have been fiercely lobbied, which led to Jarion Richardson, Opposition leader at the time, re-emphasising our platform pledge during the 2025 General Election campaign — if elected into government, the OBA would pass absentee voting.

For the PLP to say there was no consultation is simply false, as this is literally a grassroots demand of all political entities, with very little recorded opposition.

Let’s not pretend this was conjured up by the OBA with no input from the community; that is a falsehood.

We tabled the Bill on the date we did to give the Government and the community enough time to consider the legislation. If only we were afforded such luxury from the PLP on a regular basis.

Our intention with the Absentee Voting Act 2025 is simple. We are putting the terms “absentee voting” and “absentee voter” into law, allowing the creation of a method of absentee voting led by the Parliamentary Registrar.

It uses the term “ordinarily resident” directly from section two of the Parliamentary Elections Act 1978. The Bill focuses primarily on Bermudians overseas because of education, employment, medical treatment, government service and prearranged travel.

The Bill does not cover Bermudians who live overseas permanently. As via our consultation, we found that was the red line for many and would require much more community discussion.

We did not lay out the method of absentee voting, as we want that to be led by the Parliamentary Registrar to ensure the best method for Bermuda is independently selected by an expert, with support from all political entities and the voters.

The Opposition is limited by what we can propose in legislation. We cannot put forward any Bills that require money from the Consolidated Fund. The reality is that we will need collaboration from the PLP to get this passed.

I once again extend the invitation to the PLP to bring forth amendments to our Bill if it has any concerns and a budget to get this done.

Showcasing our bipartisan support for absentee voting that we all pledged to do in the 2025 election campaign, I am happy talks between the parties have begun, and hope it leads to a fruitful outcome for Bermudians who feel left out of their own democracy.

• Dwayne Robinson is the Shadow Minister of Tourism, Culture and Transport, and the MP for Southampton East Central (Constituency 30)