Islanders urged to sign up for electoral roll

With 7 October set as the new date for the 2020 general election and Guernsey’s first fully island-wide election, there is a new deadline date of 21 August.

More than 25,000 people have already registered and those who have not yet are being asked to register online or by returning a household registration form.

About 7,000 people requested a postal vote, before the Bailiwick went into lockdown.

Registrar-general of electors Colette Falla said they were calling on islanders to embrace the chance to have their say and sign up to the electoral roll.

‘This is our first fully island-wide election, an election system that was itself chosen democratically by the community in the referendum,’ she said.

‘We really hope we see at least as many, if not more, signed up to vote than in 2016.

‘Meanwhile, the election team has a lot of work to do now in delivering the election – bringing in a new system is a big task, and that’s before the huge impact Covid-19 has had.

‘We’re confident we can deliver, and being in phase five and having local life operating without restrictions is a big factor in that, allowing us to retain many of our plans for how the election will work in practice.’

In 2016, 30,320 registered to vote and there was a record turnout of 21,803.

Following the decision by the States Assembly to hold the election in October, work is now recommencing in earnest to update the election website and guidance for voters and potential candidates.

Anyone who has already registered since the current electoral roll opened last year does not need to take any action, but anyone who has not registered since the last election in 2016 will need to register again.

n Register by visiting the website www.election2020.gg or return a household registration form.

To opt for postal votes, people can visit www.election2020.gg, contact the election team on 747579, or, if they have yet to sign up to the roll, a postal vote can be requested as part of the online registration process.