Local commentary – ACCESS: Political Youth Awareness

Where are the voters? There’s only a very slight increase of registered electors

Monday, April 26, 2004

Our quest for knowledge began with the intent to motivate readers to register to vote in The 2004 Elections, and with only 6 months left until the moment when the 11,504 registered electors can visit the polling stations and cast their ballots, ACCESS started looking at the numbers.

ACCESS was surprisingly startled with the knowledge that we, as a country started in 1831 with the first Election in the Cayman Islands, have progressed and gained in the many years and quite a few elections since.

It is generally considered true, that with knowledge comes power, and with that power progress is always around the corner.

Progress has certainly been made since 1831.

Both men and women have the opportunity to qualify to vote. If even the slightest glance is made at our history, we can definitely find appreciation and gratitude in the fact that registered electors do not have to be landowners, nor is slavery an issue today in the voting process.

After almost 11 years of petitioning to the commissioner, women were granted the rights to vote in elections and were able to do so from the 1959 elections onward.

With 6,159 female electors registered to vote, it is obvious that many women take the responsibility quite seriously in regards to casting the vote that will, no doubtedly influence the path of our country’s future. What causes the alarm to sound? Why is ACCESS so ‘surprisingly startled’ our country and its people have made such progress over the past century?

With the average elector being between the ages of 46 and 49, with more cultural diversity, a significant increase on the importance of education and strong focus of politics in recent years there has only been a very slight increase of registered electors when compared with the 2000 elections, even with consideration of the unfortunate deaths within that timeframe that would affect the number of registered electors.

It has ultimately become clear as our crystal waters, that these numbers do illustrate that the young people are not the majority of electors, and with approximately a potential 2,000 additional people that could register, it leaves a question, which can only be answered with an increase in registered electors.

We often hear that it is the responsibility of the people eligible to vote to actually do just that. We often hear, or in some cases maybe the ones saying ‘Young people need to vote, after all they are the future’.

Voting is not just a responsibility; it is a right. It is critical to our country’s progress that we take our education, our cultural diversity and the political information gained and realise the Right to vote is also a privilege.

Once we can understand our history, the struggle and efforts of the people before us, and the differences of other country’s governmental structures, perhaps then, we can allow the gratitude to flow past our minds and onto the voting ballots.

To make comments or gain more information on ACCESS, e-mail accessky@hotmail.com

Back...