A human rights campaigner has asked the courts to reconsider a ruling banning some absentee voters who will be travelling today from voting.

People on flights early this morning and late this evening -- outside opening hours at the polls -- will be banned from voting in advance.

In a letter to the Chief Justice Austin Ward -- and copied to The Royal Gazette -- LeYoni Junos has called a decision by Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux an "unreasonable restriction'' on voting.

Ms Junos also claims the ruling is a violation of the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966.

The United Kingdom signed the Covenant in 1976 and extended it to Bermuda that year.

The letter comes on the heels of Mr. Justice Meerabux's ruling that Attorney General Elliott Mottley had correctly interpreted the Parliamentary Election Act of 1978.

Mr. Mottley later said: "He agreed with the view that I took -- that if you're here any part of Election Day, you cannot vote in advance.'' Registrar General Marlene Christopher also explained the Act only allowed people to vote in advance if they expected to be "absent from Bermuda on polling day''. Ms Junos -- who said she was speaking as a private citizen and not as section director of Amnesty International Bermuda -- challenged Mr.

Justice Meerabux's interpretation of what a "polling day'' is.

She writes that eligible voters can vote only for the duration of the poll -- between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

And she said that the "purpose and spirit'' of advance polls was to let people who cannot vote be enabled to vote. They should not be "disenfranchised on a technicality'', she claimed.

The Parliamentary Act of 1978 allows advance polls for people who cannot get to a polling station due to illness or disability.

And people who expect to be off the Island can also vote on Advance Polling day which is supposed to be one week before election day.

Ms Junos said that people who leave on the earliest flight or arrive on a late flight outside of the polling hours could be out of the Island for up to 17 hours.

She adds: "Surely, proof of an expected absence for more than 17 hours on polling day... is a reasonable qualification to be judged absent in good faith.'' And if the Supreme Court ruling were accepted, and the phrase "on polling day'' is defined as the entire day, then all election officials and the furnishings -- including ballot boxes -- should be in the polling room from midnight Monday until midnight Tuesday.

She added: "Surely in light of the fact that the polls do not open until 10 a.m. would be an unreasonable restriction and an unreasonable interpretation of the law.'' Ms Junos concludes by urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision and ensure the right to vote on Monday and in subsequent elections.

She adds Bermudians have had the right to vote "without unreasonable restrictions'' under the Covenant since 1976 -- two years before the current Parliamentary Election Act.

When contacted, Ms Junos said she did not know why Mr. Justice Meerabux made the ruling.

"It defeats the purpose of the act itself,'' she added. "Why interpret it so that it has the effect of disenfranchising voters. It does not make sense to me.'' "The ruling must be challenged by all Bermudians and particularly by the Government, whose duty it is to ensure the inalienable rights of its citizens,'' she added.

The Department of Information Services has announced that for the first time, today's election results will be posted on the internet.

And the results will be posted throughout the night on two seperate websites for the public and the media from Election Central.

Election Central -- at the government computer department in the Warner Building at King and Reid Streets -- will be staffed by officers from the Computer Systems and Services Department, Information Services, and other government departments.

The public website address is: http:/bermuda.election.bm and it includes results from elections since 1989, election candidates bio's, and frequently asked questions about elections.