referendum, some Bermudians now have great concern over being able to vote.

The referendum has been scheduled for the most difficult and disruptive time during the major holiday month. Since no care seems to have been given to the fact that many people are away in August, it has to be assumed that the date was set in order to disenfranchise as many people, especially opponents of Independence, as possible. Never would any Government have scheduled any event of importance for mid-August, and certainly not the most important vote Bermudians may ever cast.

The duty of a Government in a democracy is to maximise a democratic vote and to assist people to exercise their democratic right. It is wrong for any Government to make it as difficult as possible for as many people as possible to vote. That would seem to us to be especially true in a situation where the Government itself is open to question because it is severely split on the question of Independence for Bermuda.

True, every election presents some inconvenience for some of the people but there is usually an attempt to schedule elections at times which are thought to be most convenient to the most people. That is certainly not true of this referendum.

It is bad enough that the Progressive Labour Party is trying to deny its followers their hard won right to vote. The PLP is asking people not to vote, which will deprive them of their say in deciding their own future. That makes no sense.

Quite rightly it was decided to hold the referendum when students are home from college for the summer. However, Government knows as well as everyone else that Bermudians try to escape the humidity of August. They often go away before Cup Match and string the Cup Match days into a longer holiday.

Therefore it was both unfair and unnecessary to schedule the referendum for the most inconvenient possible time.

We can only think that somewhere there was an attitude of, "You don't want Independence? Well at least we will make it difficult for you to vote.'' First, there was no good argument against a July vote. Secondly, we have already seen the bad behaviour of those in favour of Independence who have tried to hold the Country to ransom.

Now we have two advance poll days, neither one of them very helpful. A referendum is not the same as a general election. This is not a situation of attaining political advantage from the time of the vote where there might be tiny majorities in some voting districts. It is not necessary to control the voting procedure except to be sure that it is honest.

There is no reason why people who are going to be away should not be able to vote now or on any working day before August 15. The referendum votes are to be centrally counted. Advance votes need only be held and added to the rest.

Does someone think the voters will not know they are being intentionally disenfranchised? Why is someone trying to make this process painful and difficult for Bermudians? Does this Government think that voters will thank it for unnecessarily ruining their holidays?