Referendum "an unqualified success"

Friday 12 October 2018

Despite concerns over postal votes, and the electoral roll not being up to date, those behind Guernsey's first ever referendum have said it really was a success.

The man responsible for the electoral roll, and the man responsible for the counting of the votes, both said it worked and that 99% of people who wanted to vote were able to without an issue.

However, a number of people have said they couldn't vote.

There have been a few people who said they wanted to vote by post but their postal ballot didn't turn up in time, with one man saying his arrived in the post at 14:00 on the day of the referendum - when it had to be returned to Sir Charles Frossard House by 12:00.

Another woman said three members of the four people who wanted to vote in her family were unable to because the electoral roll didn't have their details on it, while another woman said she knew of 20 people who had been unable to use their postal ballots because they either never turned up or turned up late.

The Registrar General of Electors, Adrian Lewis, said he thought it had been a success though.

"Guernsey's first ever referendum was an unqualified success and it was good to see so many people at the Polling Stations throughout the day.

"Unfortunately, during the course of the day we received reports of a small number of incidents where people could not vote as easily as they expected to. I appreciate the frustration these people would have felt, and work is currently underway to identify the cause of the issues so they are to repeated.

"Now the referendum has been concluded, we know that well over 99% of people were able to vote without an issue and the final decision of the referendum was not affected."

Pictured: The ballot boxes just before the count at St James yesterday. 

The man who was responsible for the actual counting of the votes was also impressed with how well the referendum went.

Jurat David Robiliard said the turnout was good, with 45.1% of the electorate voting meaning the result is binding on the States of Guernsey. He also said the referendum was historic for two other reasons.

"It's Guernsey's first referendum but it's also the first time we've used a transferable vote system, so historic for two reasons."

Jurat Robillard said the day itself went well, with lots of hard work behind the scenes.

"There's been a lot of preparation put into it, and we wanted to make sure we had an accurate, good result - and by good result I don't mean in terms of which was elected, but that it was an accurate result, and it could be relied upon, and I am confident we have done that."

With a turnout of 45.1% and with Option A receiving  6,017 votes, Jurat Robillard said it was the clear winner.

The second choice after four rounds of voting was clearly Option C with 5,448 votes which Jurat Robillard said made it clear that a recount is not necessary on this occasion.

"The law actually doesn't allow it, because it would need a margin of less than 50 votes to enable a recount and that margin hasn't been reached at any stage."

He also said while 80 people helped with the count, there were many more people who manned the polling stations on the day. He thanked all of them as well as the staff of the Registrar General. 

Pictured top: The results of the referendum on island wide voting.