Members of the public can soon share their thoughts on the Cayman Islands’ upcoming, historic transition to single member constituencies with members of the Electoral Boundaries Commission.

Beginning Tuesday 21 April 2015, Commissioners have planned a series of meetings across all three islands. The subject of discussion will be the proposed change from the present situation in which voters may elect a varying number of candidates to the Legislative Assembly, depending on the district in which they reside, to one where each elector casts only a single vote.

Meeting times and venues are as follows:

Date Venue Time
• 21 April Ashton Rutty Centre, Cayman Brac 6.30 p.m.,
• 22 April PWD Hurricane Shelter, Little Cayman 6.00 p.m.,
• 23 April East End Civic Centre 7.30 p.m.,
• 27 April Mary Miller Hall, George Town 7.00 p.m.,
• 28 April Sir John A. Cumber Primary School Hall, West Bay 8.00 p.m.
• 29 April Bodden Town Primary School Hall, 7.00 p.m.
• 30 April North Side Civic Centre, 8.00 p.m.

Urging members of the public to attend the meetings, Commission Chairman Lisa Handley PhD, a United States academic, says the group is looking for suggestions as to where to draw the boundaries, taking into account population, natural boundaries and communities of interest.

Other members of the group are local attorneys Adriannie Webb and Steve McField. In addition to the public meetings, the Commissioners will appear on Radio Cayman’s Talk Today programme on Monday 20 April.

To help guide feedback the Commission is producing a brochure that will outline its remit and scope of work to the public. The brochure will be available online at www.elections.ky.

Commission members have already sought technical information from relevant Government departments in February 2015. These included: Lands and Survey, the Planning Department, the Economics and Statistics Office and the Elections Office. They met again in March to finalise the technical information.

Interested persons may contact the Elections Office on 949-8047 for additional details about the meetings or the work of the Commission.

The Commissioners will submit their recommendations on the establishment of single member constituencies to the Governor by the end of June 2015. Officials expect the new voting system will be in place in time for the 2017 general elections.

Photo: The three electoral boundaries commissioners following meetings with technical experts in February of this year: L-R: Ms Adriannie Webb, Ms Lisa Handley, PhD (chair) and Mr. Steve McField