Mock elections to be conducted in BVI this week

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, Sep. 23, CMC – A Mock Election will be held across this British Overseas Territory this week in an effort to demonstrate the vote-tallying technology that the government wants to use in upcoming general elections.
The Office of the Supervisor of Elections says during the exercise, residents will use voting equipment developed by a company in the United States. 
According to Supervisor of Elections, Juliette Penn, residents will be given fictitious candidates and political parties to vote for, they will then feed their ballots into a tabulator.
“The public would be given the opportunity to vote as in a normal election and at the end of the poll the results will be given,” she said.
“This is all in an effort to educate the public on the use of the new machines that we are hoping to use in the next General Elections and for them to have an idea of the time frame in which the results would be made known to the public.”
In a media release, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections also said that the mock elections are part of an educational campaign that will run throughout the coming weeks and months leading up to the general election, which is constitutionally due in 2019.
The first of two mock elections will be held here on Wednesday, while the second will be held later in the day in Virgin Gorda. 
The results will be tabulated and announced following the close of each poll.
“We want voters to have confidence in what we are doing. I am asking them to come out and be a part of this changing environment,” Penn noted.