By letter dated 7th March 2025, Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, wrote to Her Excellency, Governor Julia Crouch in relation to certain actions by the Supervisor of Elections. The letter was captioned “Re: The Integrity of our Voters Register and the Undermining of our Democratic Electoral Process.” The stated purpose of the letter was to bring the Governor’s “focus on extremely serious concerns that arose from the misconduct of the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Rodney Rey.”
In his letter, the Leader of the Opposition repeatedly referred to Mr. Rey’s actions on 24th February, 2025 in reopening registration for early voting as being unlawful. He described Mr. Rey’s actions as constituting a tampering with the Voters list and as undermining the integrity of the entire election process.
The Governor was said not to have taken any meaningful action in response to Mr. Rey’s actions as he was permitted to supervise the polling on Election Day. The Leader of the Opposition described meaningful action as requiring immediate suspension or immediate dismissal.
The Leader of the Opposition in the closing paragraph of his letter drew the Governor’s attention to section 86 of the Elections Act and appeared to be suggesting that criminal charges could or should be considered against Mr. Rey.
The general consensus of members of the public appeared to be that Mr. Rey was unfairly targeted, as his actions had no impact on the outcome of the election and could not have impacted the outcome of the election, as the persons who sought to be registered to vote in the Advance Polls were already registered voters.
The Governor in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s concerns commissioned an independent review of Early Voting Applications. Many persons, however, questioned the need for an independent review.
The Final Report of the Independent Review of the Advance Poll Application Process, dated 7th April 2025, confirmed the views of the vast majority of Anguillians. The Findings confirmed “that the reopening of the application process for the advance poll was not supported by the law and was done without consultation or public disclosure. Despite the breach, all 38 voters who applied late were already registered electors and would have been eligible to vote in the advance poll had they applied on time.” The report also concluded that – “The election results reflected the genuine will of the people. There was no evidence of voter disenfranchisement or illegal voting.”
Many persons consider the Final Report to have vindicated Mr. Rey. To the extent that it makes clear that his action on 24th February, 2025 did not impact or taint the results of the Election, one can consider him to have been vindicated. That Mr. Rey’s actions were in contravention of the Elections Act cannot be ignored and the resulting investigation, which many consider to have been unwarranted in the face of Mr. Rey’s acknowledgement that he was wrong as he did not have the power to act as he did, should serve to emphasise the need for precise compliance with Election Laws.
While many might be of the opinion that the Independent Review did not have to be, we can consider what lessons can be learnt from it.
