The Voters' Rights Association (VRA) has stepped up criticism of the state of the Parliamentary Register.

As previously reported, the VRA detailed concerns about Bermuda's official list of voters last week. In a letter to Parliamentary Registrar Randy Scott, its president Geoff Parker claimed the details for more than one in ten voters could be incorrect.

Mr. Parker claimed that of 316 letters to voters in St. George's inviting them to attend a VRA meeting, 40 were returned marked "deceased", "moved" or "wrong address". He expressed concern that this was the case despite the June 15, 2007 official Parliamentary Register being used to co-ordinate the mailing.

Mr. Parker further claimed that the number of misdirected letters equated to 13 percent of registered voters on the Island.

Those registered in one place and living in another would not only be breaking the law, he said, but "undetected illegal voters" could swing the result of the next General Election.

Mr. Scott hit back, saying his office constantly updates details of voters as they die or move house. He acknowledged, however, that many will have moved since the official register was published in June.

Mr. Scott pointed out that scrutineers from the two main political parties work closely with his office to keep details up to date in each constituency. In a reference to the total number of registered voters in Bermuda, he added: "Our office is too small to deal with 42,000 names. That is why we have scrutineers."

He revealed that during a campaign last year, 19,000 households were sent forms asking them to confirm their details.

"We got back over 8,000, which is pretty good. We had a robust campaign and got good results," he commented.

However, the VRA seized upon those remarks to step up their attack yesterday, ahead of a meeting in Somerset to address the issue last night.

Mr. Parker said Mr. Scott's comments confirmed: "There is no way to check on people moving or dying in the months and days before an election — a state of affairs that can shield or even invite voter fraud (and) that the Parliamentary Registrar's Office is understaffed for the size of the job they are tasked with, by the Registrar's own admission.

"The Registrar confirms that they mailed out 19,000 forms to households and got back 8,000, which was 'pretty good' in their view, yet this represents only a 42 percent return which is a failing grade on anyone's scale. Under the Parliamentary Election Act they should have fined the 11,000 households that did not send back their forms. At $200 each they would have raised $2.2 million — more than enough to pay for a properly staffed and therefore more effective office."

He reiterated his point that 13 percent of voters registered erroneously could be key in marginal constituencies come election time, and claimed another mass mailing in Pembroke resulted in 12 percent of letters coming back marked "moved" or "unknown".

"We empathize with the Registrar. Having insufficient staff to do the job must be frustrating. However, if the current state of the latest list points to errors in excess of 10 percent then the Registrar has a duty to alert the appropriate authority — whether that be Parliament or the Governor, or both — that a more thorough mechanism for insuring a higher degree of accuracy in the register must be engaged before an election can be called," said Mr. Parker.

He called for voters to have access to the register of voters online so they can check their names and addresses are listed correctly.