A single free card that provides statutory proof of Belonger/Turks and Caicos Islander status will be available free of charge to those who register before 29 June 2012.
As of today some 2,861 persons had registered to vote ahead of the closing date of 29 June. Six thousand nine hundred and sixty four persons were registered to vote in 2007.
The move to a more efficient and secure system to verify status was confirmed by Clara Gardiner, Permanent Secretary, Minister of Border Control and Labour, today, Tue, 15 May, when providing an update on the voter registration and proof of Belongership process currently underway.
The Ministry is ‘piggy-backing’ the current election registration process to verify the status of Belongers. This data is being shared with the Elections Office to inform the electoral roll. It is the people registered on this database who will be eligible for a new Belonger Status Card.
The move to a single card has been planned by the Ministry since early in 2011 when it officially recognised the security and fraud caused by the existence of a variety of unsecure documents such as wet stamps and the use of letters, not provided for by statute, to confirm Belonger status.
Since then TCIG officials have been working towards the production of secure documents and the phasing out of all non-statutory stamps and letters.
“It is widely known that only persons who are Belongers of the Turks and Caicos Islands are able to vote in a general election,” said Clara Gardiner. “However, the majority of persons who acquire this status via birth or descent do not have an official card or certificate to prove this.
“We have bided our time until the registration process was launched, to introduce the Belonger Status Card in order to make it easier for people – they only need to register once. By replacing all other documents which have been used to confirm Belonger status it will be easier for people to claim the privileges that are available to Belongers, including voting in General Elections.
“I am greatly encouraged by the current level of registration, which is already around 40% of the total from the total of the 2007 election, with around six weeks left until the registration deadline. That said, I would encourage everyone who can to consider their civic duty and come out and register. By doing so they can not only take advantage of this time limited free Status Card offer but also make sure that they can take advantage of all of the other privileges that being a Turks and Caicos Islander proffers.”
Legislation will be brought forward soon. It is likely that those persons who do not register by 29 June will be charged a fee, to be determined, for their Belonger Status Card, in future. The first batch of cards should be ready for collection from Government Offices by the end of July 2012.
The figure of 2,861 voter registrations to 15 May is broken down as follows:
- 1,578 – Provo
- 584 – Grand Turk
- 447 – North Caicos
- 160 – South Caicos
- 58 – Middle Caicos
- 34 – Salt Cay
