Registered voters will not have to reregister when a revamped single seat electoral system is put in place, the Parliamentary Registrar told public meetings on the Boundaries Commission this week.

But UBP MP and former Commissioner John Barritt is sticking to his view that the country should go through a period of reregistration.

Changes will be made automatically in the Parliamentary register and information mailed out to voters, said Sabrina Phillips. But she cautioned that voters are responsible for making sure their details are correct in the first place because the information provided will only be as good as voters' information on file at the Parliamentary Registration office.

Bermuda's next general election will likely be fought under the new system with 36 brand new constituencies each to return one representative to the House of Assembly as recommended by the Boundaries Commission Report.

Once the Constitution has been changed to reflect the reforms, the Parliamentary Registrar will start work on matching voters with their new constituencies.

The new register will be published and made available for inspection at Post Offices across the Island. Mailings will then be sent out to all residences informing them of their constituencies, polling stations and other guidelines.

Ms Phillips stressed that people should make sure their information is current. In answer to a question she said that voters can print a copy or make changes to their registration online (www.elections.gov.bm) but will have to print a copy of the form, sign it and send it into the Parliamentary Registration office for the change to be effective.

The Parliamentary Registrar was speaking at the first of three Government sponsored meetings on the Boundaries Commission Report.

She repeated the message at last night's meeting in St. James' Church, in Somerset.

United Bermuda Party MP John Barritt, who served as one of the Commissioners, suggested in his dissenting opinion that the country go through a reregistration period once the single seat system is adopted. He argued that the Registrar would find it "challenging and difficult" to make the changes automatically because voters were identified by street addresses when the new constituencies were drawn up, and the parliamentary register identifies voters by land valuation numbers.

"As far as we are concerned all we need is the land valuation number and we have that," said Ms Phillips yesterday afternoon. "There is no need to go through reregistration. His (Mr. Barritt's) point may be very valid because he had more information, but I don't know."

When contacted yesterday, Mr. Barritt explained that the Commission used mapping software from the Works and Engineering Department to draw up the new constituencies and not the parliamentary register's land valuation numbers.

"What we were led to believe was that the controlling information was the land valuation number and not the street addresses which is used by the Works and Engineering department's mapping system... And we were led to believe that the street address on the register does not necessarily accord with the street addresses that are used by the mapping system of Works and Engineering and we used the Works and Engineering system coupled with the census forms so we were never sure of the extent of the gap that might occur. As a result my view was... to have a reregistration which would also serve another purpose of having the voters familiarise themselves with the new constituencies rather than being registered."

He said he had noticed that few voters were actually trying to find out what districts they would be in. "Not everybody saves the maps that were printed in The Royal Gazette. The descriptions only gives the roads that form the boundaries of the cons and not all the roads in the constituencies," he said.

A final meeting on the Boundaries Commission Report, which will be debated in the House of Assembly tomorrow, will start at 7.30 tonight at St. Paul's Centennial Hall on Court Street, Hamilton.

The meetings are being led by civil servants and provide information on the process, and impact, of electoral reform and the recommended constituencies.

Tonight's meeting will focus on the recommended constituencies 12-25, which cover the central parishes.