ANOTHER attempt is being made to scrap the two-year wait before newcomers to the Island can vote.
Just over a fortnight after the States voted 31-15 to abandon debate on a similar proposition by Deputy Geoff Southern, he has lodged another attempt to link the forthcoming population register to the electoral register, using the ‘no taxation without representation’ argument. On 2 May Members voted to end the debate on the previous proposition, which would also have dropped the minimum voting age to 17, set up a formal register for political parties and allowed party-affiliated candidates to include party logos on ballot papers. Deputy Southern said it was unfair to expect Islanders to pay tax but not have a democratic say in the running of the Island, and also that the system would make the electoral register more accurate. At the time of the last elections, he said the register for St Helier included many people who had died or moved to other addresses. ‘I believe that, along with those three permissions to be allowed to work, to be housed and to pay tax should come the right to vote,’ said Deputy Southern.
Article posted on 22nd May, 2007 - 12.00am
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