Names of all prisoners removed regularly from electoral register By Gareth Finighan Hundreds of people may be unable to vote in Monday's General Election -- because their names have been struck off the electoral register without their knowledge.

The Royal Gazette understands anyone sent to prison since the beginning of the year -- when the electoral register was compiled -- could have had their name removed -- even if they were incarcerated for a matter of days for a minor offence.

And although offenders can reapply to have their name put back on the register once they are released, many are unaware that their names have been crossed out in the first place.

The case came to light yesterday after one Smith's South voter discovered that her husband will not be allowed to vote -- because he spent a week in prison in April for failing to pay a fine.

The woman, who does not wish to be named said: " The PLP candidate Patrice Parris came to speak to us and I was curious as to why she kept on directing everything to me and not my husband. She then told me that his name was not on her list of voters.

"We both registered at the beginning of the year and so we went to check with the registrar general. We were shown the forms that we had filled in which had been stamped with the official stamp as being received on February 11.

"But since then my husband was picked up and committed to prison.

"We were told that the Registrar General gets a print-out every month from the prison authorities.

"Once you enter Westgate your name is put on that list, forwarded to the registrar general and then automatically crossed off the register. They even showed me the printout with my husband's name on it.

"The point is, nobody told my husband that his name had been struck off...'' The electoral register is compiled at the beginning of the year, although registration forms are accepted until the register is published in June.

Deputy Registrar General, Lionel Dowling, denied that the list is amended on a monthly basis, saying that a list of Westgate inmates is only supplied by the Prison Commissioner once an election is called.

But he was unable to explain how the Smith's South voter had had his name removed despite the fact that he had been released from Westgate six months ago.

And he was also unable to confirm which authority has the responsibility of informing ex-cons that they must re-register once released from jail.

Deputy Prisons Commissioner Marvin Trott also declined to comment on the case and said he could not say how many people had been interned at the facility since the beginning of the year and subsequently released.

But Magistrate's Court administrator Tracy Kelly speculated that the number of people incarcerated since the beginning of the year could run into the hundreds.

"The magistrate's don't commit many people for criminal offences but committals for things like unpaid fines are fairly frequent - there can be six or seven a day.

"I would imagine that the number of people who have been committed is possibly in the hundreds,'' he said.

Shadow Public Safety Minister Alex Scott also condemned the news, saying that, if ex-prisoners are being struck off the electoral role, they were being disenfranchised unnecessarily.

And he speculated that Government might not be doing enough to make sure certain groups of people were being allowed to vote.

"It seems to me that if someone gets a parking ticket or runs foul of the authorities through some debt or minor offence they can end up in prison for a few days or even a few hours,'' he said.

"They are then candidates for being struck off the record and while that may be standard procedure with the Parliamentary Elections Act, these individuals are certainly being penalised if the authorities do not let them know what has happened.

"It appears that someone, somewhere does not consider it important that these people are being disenfranchised.

"Different groups are being disenfranchised - we have seen it with the students and those disenfranchised through the advanced poll and now people caught up in the court system.

"One would have to ask the Minister for Public Safety Maxwell Burgess whether he was aware of this factor and, if so, what he has done to inform these individuals that they had been disenfranchised.

"It seems that nothing is being done to ensure that certain people have a vote. Is it neglect by the government or a conspiracy that whenever potential supporters of the PLP are involved they are allowing this to occur.

"This is only conjecture, but one is beginning to find too many coincidences with students and travellers and now people caught up in the court system. A good detective doesn't believe in coincidences.'' Last night Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess could not be contacted to discuss the issue.