to Legislative Affairs Minister Lois Browne Evans.

And Mrs. Browne Evans -- currently Acting Premier -- said the changes to the 1978 election legislation would increase democracy on the Island.

She explained: "The whole idea is to bring about greater democracy and allow more people to exercise their democratic right to vote.'' And she promised more changes to come -- although some, like abolishing the dual seat constituency system and reducing the number of MPs from the current 40 to 30 or so, would need changes to the Constitution.

And the elections for local government -- the Corporations of St. George and Hamilton -- are also set to benefit from the abolition of the current ratepayers only vote to a residency qualification.

Mrs Browne Evans said: "There are more changes needed to that monumental Act of 1978 -- but we will have to deal with them later.

"All these things can't be dealt with yet -- later we will hope to deal with the entire structure in greater detail.'' Among the changes to be laid before the House of Assembly the Friday after this week's sitting is an end to the one-off annual registration of voters.

That will be replaced by a system whereby those who reach the voting age of 18 can register when they like -- ending a practice where some of age to vote missed out because their birthday fell after the January registration date.

At the moment any eligible voter who fails to register on the due date could be prosecuted -- although no-one has ever been taken to court for the offence.

Also pencilled in are an increased range of documents accepted at polling stations as proof of identity.

And expired documents, at present acceptable as proof up to three months out of date, will be accepted up to six months past expiry if the new law passes through the legislature.