Petition Verification Process

Verification staff from the Elections Office continue to make solid progress, having received 4,255 signatures verification forms to date. This represents 80.4% of the number of registered electors that are required to satisfy Section 70 (2) of the Cayman Islands Constitution in relation to peoples-initiated referendum.

During this process, the proportion of persons being able to remove their names from the list of verified petitioners has been widely debated, as has the validity of doing so. Some public discussion is also ongoing about the appropriateness of additional signatures being collected and submitted while verification is in progress.

The total number of persons who have declined to be verified stands at 89, and 2 persons have requested for their previously verified signatures to be “un-verified”. The percentage of persons declining to be verified is 2.1% of all verified signatures received to date, while the proportion of persons seeking to “un-verify” their signatures, represents 0.05% of all verifications, and is not statistically material at the stage.

In an effort to be fair and reasonable, the Elections Office will continue to receive and record the wishes of persons who want to be “un-verified”, while the CPR is able to continue to collect and submit additional petition signatures.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Elections Office will continue to maintain a record of all originally submitted petition signatures and will make an indication of which signatures have been verified and which have chosen to do otherwise.

The Elections Office wishes to thank the public for their support and to encourage persons who have signed the petition to continue to be courteous with the Elections Office verification staff as they work to complete the remaining verifications.