Iguana Street Dispute Highlights Election Registration Concerns

With municipal elections less than eight months away, the fight for voters is already spilling into the streets. July and August are transfer months, giving eligible voters a chance to move their registration to a new constituency or municipality. But that process is also raising familiar concerns about political abuse. One of those disputes recently played out on Iguana Street in the Mesopotamia Division, where Brian “Yellowman” Audinette stepped in to challenge what he claims was an illegal registration. Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai explains how transfers are supposed to work, and what safeguards are in place to prevent fraud.

 

Brian “Yellowman” Audinette, Elector, Mesopotamia

“They noh live there. Young boy just say they noh live ya. Ih call you. You can’t bring nobody ya. You can’t do that. Young boy just say that ih noh live ya. Nobody live yaw eh ih come see. Unu noh wa register nobody ya like that. Unu noh wah come with no illegal registration ya. The boy just say up de that none of them two people ya live ya. Soh how she wa come? He call she and she come and she the sign. Then yo got two name. You got a Eric Lewis and you got wa Shary Bent. None ah them and I know.”

 

Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer

“I want to advise persons to, and like I said, specifically those persons who are registered electors in a specific constituency because they can up- do… They can make objections when the list is published. You have to provide proof, and many times that is where there’s always an issue because, um, sometimes persons sit back, and it’s unfortunate that’s what we normally do as citizens until when it’s an election period, you hear all the complaints. And we all know that we have municipal elections coming up. Um, it’s scheduled for the 3rd of March, um, 2027, which is just a couple months away. And so this is es- the time that persons will pay attention to the list. Registering officers go out and physically visit those addresses to verify. So an investigation is conducted. Based on the investigation, the registering officer has to satisfy him or herself and make a determination if the person will be included on the list or not.”

 

It is also against the law to knowingly object falsely to a registration application with a fine up to five hundred dollars or imprisonment up to one year.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

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