BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
THE Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) has announced the official polling hours for the 2024 Joint Election on April 17.
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Christina Matini confirmed that all polling stations in the Solomon Islands will open at 7 a.m. and remain open until 4 p.m. on Wednesday evening.
“The polling station will open at 7 a.m. in the morning and close at 4 p.m. in the evening,’’ said Matini in a recent radio talk-back show. “As we approach April 17, it is crucial for voters to plan their movement for the polling day.”
She said the public is being asked to cast their votes on two ballot papers: a white ballot paper to vote for your Parliament Member, a green ballot paper to vote for your Provincial Assembly Member (MPA) if you are voting in the provinces, and a yellow ballot paper to vote for your Honiara City Council (HCC) member if you are voting in Honiara.
The government recently declared Wednesday, April 17, as a nationwide public holiday.
She said that the voter’s registration lists have already been released at various polling stations and that it is important for voters to visit and look for their names.
“This is to prevent last-minute check-ins for our names. So there are two ways: either you go to the polling stations at the moment to check for your names, or you can go straight to the SIEC Facebook page and check for your names and polling stations on the Locator App on your mobile phone.
“By now, we should know our polling stations and where our name appeared. If we have people with special needs in the family, we, the family members, need to plan and take them to the polling station,’’ the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer said.
She said that those working under the SIEC at polling stations have been trained to prioritize who’s to cast their votes first and whose turn is next.
Matini also said that it is not necessary for voters to hold on to their IDs at the polling station.
“Also remember that your vote is secret, and the secrecy of the ballot means it is only you who can mark who you prefer and cast your vote for.
“You have to mark only one choice in the ballot papers to choose the male or female who you wish to lead our country for the next four years.
“For Western and Choiseul provinces, you only have to vote for a Parliament Member because we conducted the MPA on December 14, 2022,’’ Matini said.
She said that at the moment, the country has a total of 421,851 people who have registered for the year’s 2024 Joint Election.
Meanwhile, SIEC Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Jasper Highwood Anisi has called on voters to be at the polling station as early as possible.
“Come to the polls at 7 a.m. to cast your ballot instead of waiting until 4 p.m., after which you can go about your own business.
“To ensure that no one follows the queue manager by 4 p.m., they will stand at the end of the line. For instance, if there are fifty people in line, the queue manager will stand at the end of the line to make sure that every voter has cast their ballot.
“However, one advantage of this year’s 2024 joint election is that our policy limits the number of voters to 600 per polling place. Consequently, it would be much better if the 600 voters could arrive early in the morning to cast their ballots,’’ the CEO said.
