By Azara Lavia
The Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) says it is satisfied with the turnout to date for the expired voter ID card replacement programme.
Based on figures released by ABEC, since the commencement of the exercise on August 12, approximately 3,000 people have registered to replace their cards.
ABEC’s public relations officer Elisa Graham said technical issues previously hindering the process have now been rectified across all 17 constituencies, including Barbuda.
“We are basically doing a weekly count. Yes, we are pleased with the progress so far. It would have been an increase from the previous week and we are happy to report that our systems are fully functional, fully operational,” she explained.
Graham said she is anticipating an uptick in activity as the programme continues.
“Registration offices as well as the entire team is fully on board, working from 8:30am to 6pm, and as you can see from the respective statistical data, all of the respective registration units have been having some form of activity daily. So we’re very happy with that, and we just anticipate that we will gain even more momentum as the weeks continue,” she added.
Figures released by ABEC show that for the week ending August 23, 1,581 persons applied to have their expired voter ID card replaced, and there were 88new registrations.
During the previous week, the total number of persons taking part in the exercise was 1,360.
The Commission is aiming to replace the 40,000 voter ID cards that have expired. There were 60,916 people eligible to vote in the January 2023 general election, according to ABEC.
