Jun 22 - "Vote Early" Says Martinez - 80% Turnout Expected For Tomorrow's Referendum
With less than 24 hours to go until tomorrow’s EU Referendum, an estimated 80% of Gibraltar’s 24,100 registered voters are expected to cast their vote.
Polling stations across Gibraltar will open from 7am to 10pm, mirroring the timings of the UK, and registered voters will have the opportunity to vote on whether they want the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union.
YGTV caught up with Paul Martinez, Gibraltar’s European Electoral Registration Officer, who explained that Frank Carreras, Senior Counting Officer, and his team is expected to return a result before 2am.
Mr Martinez said: “I would ask people to vote early due to a large turnout of voters we're expecting, and if they don’t know where their polling station is, we have developed an app on our website to let you know where to go.”
While politicians and campaigners have been lobbying for some time now, Mr Martinez and his team have been preparing for the referendum since it was called, receiving appropriate training for the day.
Mr Martinez said: “Primary legislation enabling us to vote came from the UK and this was mirrored here in Parliament where we had our own EU Referendum Act and then we had subsidiary legislation that enables us to carry out the referendum.
“We’ve been mirroring what the UK has done, because our legislation mirrors the UK’s legislation.
“With regards to logistics, it’s the planning and execution of it is very similar to that of the general election, but we have to abide by the conduct rules which set out how we should carry out the election.”
For the referendum, a proxy vote has been offered for anyone who cannot make it to a polling station on the day - either someone can vote on behalf of the person or they can request a postal vote.
To find out where to vote, visit the web app http://parliament.gi/addressSearch/ and simply put in your address to find out which is your polling station.
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