The States Assembly & Constitution Committee is aiming to contain the costs of the public vote, which it wants to hold on Wednesday 29 April, to £75,000.
Deputy Marc Laine, who was collecting signatures of colleagues before Christmas to force the abandonment of those plans, said last night that he was pleased to see that cost estimates for the election were now less than the £200,000 first indicated, which he felt his campaign had contributed towards.
He said he would still speak against the proposal when it came for debate in the States at the end of February.
Sacc will contain costs in part by only using three polling stations – Beau Sejour as the main venue and two more to be decided in talks with the parishes.
The June 2025 electoral roll will be used again, with people already registered not needing to re-register. There will be no candidate brochure delivered to homes – manifestos will be posted online only and the committee said it expected that the media would cover candidates well – while those standing will be subject to the same expenditure limits that they were in June.
‘Our committee has sought to develop proposals for the by-election that are efficient, proportionate and keep costs to a minimum while ensuring a fair process for candidates,’ said Sacc president Sarah Hansmann Rouxel. She added that the committee wanted to keep the voting experience similar to the two previous island-wide elections, and cut back where appropriate.
‘The States will once more provide candidates with the opportunity to put their manifestos, videos and other details online via a dedicated election website, and the committee anticipates that the local media will provide significant coverage, as they did in June last year.
‘As such – and in line with our commitment to reduce costs wherever possible – we concluded that it will not be necessary to produce and post a manifesto booklet to all households where someone is registered on the Electoral Roll.
‘This represents a considerable saving.’
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