That 6,301 voting cards were collected during the week in which they were available at substations created in several areas can be interpreted different ways. One could, for example, say that’s less than a third of the in-total-22,559 registered eligible voters, so the unusual approach wasn’t very successful.
It’s important to remember this was done in the aftermath of catastrophic Hurricane Irma, based on concerns regarding the limited delivery capacity of Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS) due to damage suffered and many persons having been – temporarily – displaced.
Because of the dump fires people in the greater Philipsburg area in reality had only four days to get their cards, as the smoke forced a change of their location from the former Census Office to Raoul Illidge Sports Complex. People in Cole Bay needed to go all the way to the Simpson Bay marketplace through often busy traffic there to obtain theirs.
So, perfect it was not, but if the intention was to reach primarily those no longer at their official place of residence, the action executed with the help of students may well make a significance positive difference in the turnout under the circumstances.
PSS has been distributing the remaining 16,268 the past days and what’s left will be taken to the Civil Registry Department on Pond Island, where they can be picked up the entire week and also on Election Day, February 26.
On that day there should also be duplicates at the normal polling station for each voting district. So, all in all there is really no excuse not to make use of one’s democratic right unless for some reason physically or mentally unable to do so.
Civic-minded people don’t turn their backs on society, they try to be part of the solution.
