Parliamentary Registrar Sabrina Phillips hopes and expects that her office will not have to conduct a wholesale re-registration of Bermuda's voters when the final decision on electoral reform is made.

But it could happen.

"It is our aim to be able to point people to their new constituencies," she said this week. "If for some reason we cannot do that then we will notify people as soon as we can."

The Boundaries Commission is recommending a new electoral map of 36 constituencies, each to send one representative to the House of Assembly.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt, who sat on the Commission, wrote in a dissenting view that the Parliamentary Registrar ought to re-register voters to make it easier for the department itself and to enable voters to become familiar with their new constituencies.

Asked to respond, Ms Philips said the department was still studying the report.

But she said she was looking to see what work was done by other Government departments to help the Commission come to its recommendations.

"It may be that some of the work ... may be useful to us. Until we know that we really cannot comment on re-registration."

The Parliamentary Registrar is required by law to adapt the register every time constituency boundaries are changed.

Mr. Barritt said that the Registrar would find the job "challenging and difficult" because the data used by the Commission identified voters by street addresses, while the Parliamentary Registrar uses land valuation numbers.

Ms Phillips said that land valuation numbers are essentially the same as street addresses.

Parliamentarians received the Boundaries Commission report at a special House session Friday and it was published in full in Monday's Royal Gazette.