An independent group to review the Government’s imminent plans for electoral reform was unveiled today.

The 11-member team includes representatives from the Progressive Labour Party, the One Bermuda Alliance, the Free Democratic Movement and the independent candidate movement from the island’s 2025 General Election.

Diallo Rabain, the Minister of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, announced the electoral reform working group had been formally established to provide “independent review and practical scrutiny of the Government’s electoral reform before legislative drafting is finalised” — to go before MPs in three months’ time.

Special attention will be given to absentee voting for overseas students, campaign finance regulation and options for “strengthening electoral governance, including a future electoral commission”.

Absentee voting was one of the most “frequently raised” issues during consultation on the issue, Mr Rabain said.

“Concerns were expressed by Bermudians studying overseas who wished to participate in the democratic process, but faced barriers doing so.”

The group is tasked overall with exploring “practical and secure options to improve voter access”.

Mr Rabain said it had been established as “an accelerated review exercise”, to act with “focus, discipline and urgency” to deliver its findings.

While its work was initially projected to require six to eight weeks, the group is on an “expedited schedule” to complete its core review and hand in its recommendations in about four weeks.

Mr Rabain said that “a substantial amount of groundwork has already been completed”.

He added: “The target remains unchanged. The Government remains committed to bringing electoral reform legislation before Parliament in September 2026, and I look forward to receiving this working group’s recommendations in the weeks ahead.”

Members were selected “not only for the experience and expertise they bring but also because, collectively, they represent a broad cross section of Bermuda’s community”.

Mr Rabain said the group would assess evidence, review policy proposals, identify “risks and safeguards” and provide recommendations to “support the next phase of reform”.

Its four areas of focus will be voter access and registration; election day processes and administration; campaign and election finance; and governance and oversight.

Lauren Hayward Bell, the Junior Minister for Health, Economy and Labour, and Housing and Municipalities in the Senate, will be the group’s chairwoman, with McKenzie-Kohl Tuckett, who has served in the Youth Parliament as well as Future Leaders of Bermuda, as the deputy chairwoman.

Also on the group are Juanae Crockwell, the executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, who ran as an independent candidate for Southampton West Central in the February 2025 General Election; Theo Wolffe, who served as chairman of the National Youth Policy working group; Max Blakeney, a legal trainee with the firm Appleby; Lana Talbot, an educational and child psychologist on the Bermuda College board of governors; Trew Morris, who launched a petition in 2025 for young Bermudians abroad to be able to vote; Tenia Woolridge, the parliamentary registrar; Jahdia Spencer, a councillor in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London and a youth leader with the Free Democratic Movement; Geoffrey Faiella, a lawyer who stood for the One Bermuda Alliance in Devonshire East for the 2025 election; and Michael Anthony Charles Smith, a former deputy parliamentary registrar.

Mr Rabain said they reflected “a range of professional backgrounds, generations, perspectives and lived experience”.

“That balance matters,” he added.

“Members have not been appointed to advocate for any political party, organisation or special interest.

“Rather, they have been appointed to apply their experience, judgment and collective scrutiny to the proposals before them, and ensure that any reforms ultimately brought before Parliament are practical, effective and capable of commanding public confidence.”