By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE #TooSexyToVote registration campaign yesterday brought its plea for “fair treatment and understanding” to the Parliamentary Registration Department, with organisers calling for clear and defined rules on what is expected from potential voters aiming to register.

The social media campaign, launched in the wake of controversial comments made by Parliamentary Commissioner Sherlyn Hall last week, where he defended the right of his staff to turn away women due to their attire.

Mr Hall at the time told The Tribune women registering to vote with “half their breasts out” would not be permitted.

This came after The Tribune received reports that some women had been turned away from registration based on their clothing.

In response, the social media campaign was launched and encouraged Bahamian women and men to turn up at the department’s Farrington Road headquarters, dressed anyway they pleased, to register to vote.

Lead organiser of the campaign, Tribune Chief Reporter Ava Turnquest, said the lack of a consistent and clear policy has frustrated persons to the point that they have opted to not take part in the process despite wanting to carry out their constitutional right.

According to Ms Turnquest, the offensive and disrespectful phrasing used by Mr Hall in his rebuke of potential women voters led the group to plan the protest.

She told reporters outside the Parliamentary Registration Department: “I don’t want to say this (that the turning away of female voters because of their attire) was why voter registration was low, but in an environment of low voter registration already, why are we doing things to further frustrate the process, to make it harder for persons?

“Particularly people who may not have the resources to keep coming again and again. For most people, if they are turned away one time, that inconvenience may be enough to not go back again.

“We have stories coming out on Facebook and on Twitter about persons being turned away two or three times, so I think it is really highlighting the strong desire of Bahamians to take part in this process.

“We are governed by laws and the laws may have been created on the principles of morality and decency, but the laws are such that they can be objective, so that they can work for all people who are here and for all Bahamians,” she stated.

“We feel that once we get into that, it is a slippery slope.

“Once we start to attempt to regulate and box people in based on your own subjective view of morality and decency then it spirals from there.

“So if we can get a clear policy, the Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage to his credit he responded swiftly and he also highlighted that is not an issue of just sexism or discrimination, but this also speaks to threads of socio-economic and class because the person that you are turning away, do they have the resources to come back again?

“Are they independently mobile? What is their work status, are they employed? We need to take every opportunity to encourage Bahamians to come out and to get registered and to vote, and anything that sort of discourages that, it has no place five months away from a general election.

“We are here to respectively register to vote in the way in which the law allows and in any way the law allows,” added Ms Turnquest.

Alicia Wallace, women’s rights activist and director of Hollaback Bahamas, and LGBT activist Erin Greene were also a part of yesterday’s protest.

Ms Wallace said she views the right to vote as “important” for all Bahamians interested in participating in the process.

She said no one, whether it is a man or woman should be turned away due to something as subjective as modesty or decency.

“We know that the law is objective and people’s opinions are subjective, and there is no way that our constitutional right to vote should be subject to anyone’s opinion or outweighed by someone’s idea of what is decent and what is modest,” she said.

Ms Greene condemned the department for its attempt to act on “personal opinions”, insisting that the move was an attack on “full citizenship.”

“I am concerned that women and men that are poor or marginalised due to a lack education or lack access because of poverty, I am here to ensure that they are allowed full access to the system, but also, so that they are provided with support,” she said.

“For some people, entering a government building is a daunting task, just engaging in government services is problematic.

“So we are here to provide those elements that are required for full access to citizenship. We are here to support you in the exercise of your rights.”

When asked about the concerns raised by the campaign on Wednesday, Mr Hall said the department has adopted the recent suggestions from National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage.

“If they are good from the neck up, we will go with that,” Mr Hall said.

This week, Dr Nottage responded to the controversy, saying people’s attire would not hinder them from voter registration.

• Extra registration stations, see page six