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Ghost voters at old hotel site and unfinished house are weeded out

Ghost votes: The site of the former Wyndham Hotel, demolished in 2007 before the last election, appeared on the electoral roll with eligible voters. The errors have been called in and dealt with.

Two cases of ineligible voters listed on the latest electoral roll have been reported to the Parliamentary Registrar.The addresses — one, the derelict site of a hotel, the other a bricked-up unfinished house — highlight the need for vigilance over the constituencies.For Southampton East Central it could throw into question six potential votes registered at 6 Sonesta Drive, the former site of the Wyndham Hotel.The constituency was taken in the last election by the Progressive Labour Party’s Zane DeSilva; 48 votes ahead of the United Bermuda Party’s David Dodwell.Devonshire North Central candidate for the One Bermuda Alliance Anthony Francis said the glitches showed how “part of our process needs to be tweaked a little”.Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Parliamentary Registrar told The Royal Gazette that the Southampton errors had been called in, and dealt with.Mr Francis spoke to this newspaper shortly after spotting another suspect registered voter in Constituency 13 — where he is the first-time challenger to PLP incumbent and Families Minister Glenn Blakeney.Mr Francis said: “I’m concerned that we could potentially have voters registered at places where they are not living.“The last couple of elections have been decided by 500 votes either way, so these types of things could come up very interesting. In my case, I have discovered this one anomaly. It could be someone who registered to move in there and the house didn’t get finished. I don’t believe it’s a voter irregularity or anything like that.”The Brighton Hill Road residence in question had one registered voter.“It’s actually a brand new house that has gone up within the last year. It’s not completed,” Mr Francis said.He added: “It’s my understanding that you have to be living at the location in order to be registered there. This particular dwelling is all boarded up. I don’t see any electricity going in, it has no windows or doors.”Mr Francis said it would “surprise me greatly” if anyone turned out to be living in the house, which he photographed and sent to the Registrar.“It’s part of the Jackson estate that was sold off,” he said. “Because I live in the area, I have run around there all my life. When I saw this address pop up on the register, I was surprised. I have been canvasing for the last year, and I know there was no-one living there.”He added that he “wouldn’t want anyone to think I would do this to disenfranchise any vote. I just think the procedure should be followed”.The one-week window to report errors or omissions to the Registrar expired on Monday, and the Constituency 13 anomaly was sent in before the deadline.A concerned voter who asked not to be named said he had been tipped off about three Sonesta Drive-registered voters and had gone to the site to check.“This is just an issue of what’s wrong,” he said. “It has nothing to do with any political party. If people are registered in a place that doesn’t exist, it’s a matter for concern.”He found the road fenced off above the plot at 6 Sonesta Drive where the Wyndham Hotel, formerly the Sonesta, was demolished in November 2007.The OBA’s Paget West MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said she had raised the issue during debate in the last session of the House of Assembly.In Parliament, she recounted finding a voter living in Paget who had told her that his vote was “worth more in Hamilton Parish than it was in Paget, and as such, he did not want to change his address”.Last night she said: “If I find voters registered in my area who have moved, I have informed the Registrar as I complete the area.“When I find people who do live in my area who are not registered there, I have arranged for their transfer forms to be completed and signed by them at the time of my visit, and I deliver the forms to the Registrar on the next working day.”She added: “I am fully cognisant of the sensitivity and volatility of the electoral register, and we all have a moral duty to ensure that the register conforms to the law.”l Useful website: www.elections.gov.bm.

All boarded up: An unfinished Devonshire residence where one voter was registered.