Voting method

Local Government Ordinance (Revised Edition 2017)

[17. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 16, any person temporarily away from the Island at the time of the election, who would if present be eligible to vote, may exercise his or her right as an absentee voter in accordance with the following conditions—

(a) it shall be the responsibility of any such person to obtain from the Island Secretary, the office of the Pitcairn Island Administration or the office of the Governor, the nomination list and voting paper issued seven days prior to the elections;

(b) any such person wishing to vote must attend at the office of the Pitcairn Island Administration or the Governor not less than two clear days prior to the election on the Island and complete the voting paper in the sight and presence of a public officer designated by the Governor for the purpose;

(c) every such public officer shall forthwith transmit full particulars of the vote to the [Administrator] who will hold the same in a sealed envelope until the election when, provided that the person is eligible to vote and the vote is not invalid, it will be included in the counting process by being tendered to [a] Recorder by the [Administrator] in the same manner as provided by paragraph (iv) of section 16(8) of this ordinance.]

(Inserted by Ordinance No. 1 of 2004)

(Amended by Ordinance No. 1 of 2013)

(Amended by Ordinance No. 4 of 2014)

 [18. A person who intends to be temporarily absent from the Island at the time of the election and who would if present be entitled to vote may, in accordance with the following conditions, apply for appointment of a named person as his or her proxy to cast a vote on election day on his or her behalf:

(a) The application for appointment of a proxy must be made in the form set out as appendix 1 to this Ordinance.

(b) The person sought to be appointed as proxy must be on the Register of Voters.

(c) The application form must be signed and delivered to the Island Secretary not earlier than 15 [October] in the year of the election nor later than 7 days before the election day. …]

(Inserted by Ordinance No. 2 of 2008)

(Amended by Ordinance No. 1 of 2013)

The Section 17 provides for absentee voting, but it should be administered in the form of advance voting within the island. It is not possible to identify when personal voting from abroad was outlawed. Section 18 provides for proxy voting from abroad. it seems this section was incerted in 2008, and later amended in 2013. The exact track of developments in this regards cannot be established, since the texts of the Ordinances from 2008 and 2013 are not available online.