Thirty people will have their eligibility to vote in North Andros challenged during a public hearing in that constituency tomorrow, Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel said.
Earlier this week, Bethel said seven people would be called to testify in the voter fraud hearing, but yesterday revealed that the number has increased to 30.
Bethel anticipated that the hearing will stretch beyond tomorrow, but could not say how long he thinks it will take for the matter to wind up.
Lawyer and Progressive Liberal Party Deputy Leader Philip Brave Davis said his party is representing three of the registered voters in question. He added that the whole exercise is vexatious and could hurt the Free National Movement's candidate for the area, Desmond Bannister.
Davis suggested that Bannister 'castigated' voters by his claims of fraud.
"I think it's a whole waste of time, quite frankly," he said yesterday.
"My initial view of it is that it's utter nonsense, the complaint, but not knowing all the details I will reserve what I think about what's going to happen on that day.
"On the face of it, the complainants have a challenge ahead of them to establish what their real case is."
Davis speculated that if some people who registered in the area are not eligible they may have been confused by recent amendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act - specifically the changes to the definition of what it means to be ordinarily resident - and did not deliberately try to defraud the election process.
"We are concerned about the names, but we are gathering the information concerning those persons, and I would not say they are planted there," Davis said. "The law has changed and persons have a right to decide now where they want their ordinary residence to be.
"They may not be fraudulent. They may have made a genuine error as to where they may be able to vote. That's not fraud. To accuse people of fraudulent behavior is a serious charge and in the nature of things I don't think anyone will knowingly register themselves in an area where they know that they cannot vote.
"They may be in error. As we've discovered in a number of cases, people say this is where my mother lives, this is where I spend most of my time and this is where I want to vote and they register there. They don't do it because of any malice or a view to mislead people."
The allegations of voter fraud came to light about two weeks ago after Bannister, the education minister and MP for Carmichael, claimed 36 people registered illegally in that constituency.
Bannister also accused unnamed "PLP operatives" of flying people into North Andros, free of charge, to register to vote.

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