Voter turnout in February most definitely warrants closer examination and discussion. It was one of the lowest, if not the lowest since records have been kept. Turnout was pegged at 55 per cent, down from a previous low of 61 per cent in 2020, which was down from a more respectable 73 per cent for the 2017 election — a decline that was widely put down in 2020 to general ennui thanks to Covid.

The extent of the decline in voter turnout this time around was not only surprising but staggering. Those who did vote returned a government with 12,300 votes, which amounted to approximately 28 per cent of the total registered voters of 45,064 people. The opposition One Bermuda Alliance was no more impressive, as its candidates captured 9,133 votes, roughly 20 per cent of all those registered and eligible to vote.

True, there were an additional 3,346 who voted in the election, either for an independent, the Free Democratic Movement or the Emperial candidate. You do the maths: just over 20,000 voters, roughly 52 per cent of the total registered voters, were not persuaded to vote and not for either the Progressive Labour Party or the OBA.

Elections typically give voters an opportunity to weigh in not only with their voice but their vote. It did not happen in 2025 for a sizeable number of voters and, given the sheer numbers and the percentages of votes cast for the two parties that now comprise the legislature — 25 PLP, 11 OBA — there is incentive enough for each of them to address what occurred, or didn’t, and why.

I have a few ideas on why and where to start:

First, there was obviously a number of registered voters who were unable to vote because they were either abroad studying or posted elsewhere by virtue of employment. Those voters remain eligible to vote because they are otherwise “ordinarily resident” in Bermuda. The qualifying words are important. The Bermuda Constitution Order requires that electors be ordinarily resident, and the term is defined in the 1978 Parliamentary Election Act.

The short of the definition is that in the case of a person who is married, it means he or she is ordinarily resident at the place where they live and sleep, and to which when they are away they intend to return. In the case of someone who is single, it means that they are ordinarily resident at the place where they live and sleep “the majority of time”.

We do not know the number who fell into the category of absentee voters, who would have had a vote had they been here on the day. My guess is that it is unlikely they accounted for a great percentage of decline in voter turnout.

But they should have had a vote, and there now appears to be no argument between the PLP and the OBA that provisions should be made forthwith for absentee ballots. Unanimity works, even in the legislature.

Second, we may still be working from a voters register that is not up to date. We have all heard the stories of Bermudians who have moved abroad. The number is put in the thousands, as many as 8,000 by some. That figure is either not kept or unavailable. We have also heard the stories of voters who cannot be found at their registered addresses. Or of two families registered to the same household when only one live there. When voters move, they are supposed to notify the Parliamentary Registrar, but that is hardly on the list of things to do for families who are intending to leave Bermuda and make their home elsewhere — and when they do make their home elsewhere, they no longer qualify as ordinarily resident for the purposes of voting.

The Parliamentary Registrar is meant to keep track of these changes under the Election Act with help of two scrutineers per constituency, one appointed by the Premier the other by the Opposition leader. But there has always been some doubt as to how well this system works. Election candidates, and the parties, may have a better idea of numbers from their canvassing.

There have also been reports of deceased still on the list. Not every death is posted by way of notice in the daily newspaper.

This means that it may be that it is past time to overhaul an Act that is dated. It was initially put through almost 50 years ago when voter registration was an annual drive. While there have been amendments over the years since, particularly when a rolling, continuous voting register was first introduced, the 1978 Act could use a bipartisan review and update.

A more accurate register would give us a more accurate record of voter turnout, which incidentally might not have been quite as bad as it appears post-election.

A more accurate register would have also given us a better idea of how many people chose to vote with their feet and stay away from the polls — and we believe there were some, and not necessarily because they were apathetic. Disillusionment with the parties and their choices, as well as with politics generally, may also have been factors.

• John Barritt is a former elected member of the Bermuda legislature where he served for 18 years. This is part two of a four-part series in which he takes a close look at the 2025 General Election and what it may mean. Dialogue is welcomed. John may be reached at jbarritt@ibl.bm

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