The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the Free National Movement (FNM) will both conduct exit polls of voters from today's advanced poll to get an indication of the outcome of the May 7 election, their respective chairmen said yesterday.
Nearly 8,000 people are eligible to vote in today's poll, including police officers and defence force officers, election day workers, politicians, overseas voters and people with travel plans or medical appointments.
This is the first time that people other than uniformed officers and poll workers will be able to vote in the advanced poll.
FNM Chairman Carl Bethel said his party expects to garner the most votes from the 7,865 people registered.
"The party will be of course considering all the evidence that we are able to glean from the advanced poll voting process, as to how we think it went," said Bethel, who was a guest on the Guardian Radio talk show 'Darold Miller Live'.
"There are many ways in which exit polls are done.
"We have our ways of knowing... We expect that we will get the majority of votes of the majority of persons who vote [Tuesday], whether they are police (officers), defence force officers, the general public, special voters, we anticipate the majority."
PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said based on early talks with a number of voters registered for the advanced poll, the PLP is confident that it will secure most of their support.
"The voters who will vote [Tuesday] will come from different constituencies and the numbers are not evenly spread across but it gives an indication [of Election Day]," Roberts told The Nassau Guardian.
"We will get some preliminary numbers and we have already spoken to many of those persons who will vote [Tuesday]."
Voters will be able to vote between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m at two polling stations in New Providence, the Bahamas Tourism Training Centre at The College of The Bahamas and the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.
Early voters in Bains Town and Grants Town, Englerston, Fox Hill, Marathon, Nassau Village, South Beach, MICAL, Centreville, Fort Charlotte, Golden Gates, Montagu, Pinewood and St. Anne's will vote at the gymnasium.
Early voters in Bamboo Town, Elizabeth, Golden Isles, Mount Moriah, Southern Shores, Yamacraw, Carmichael, Garden Hills, Killarney, Sea Breeze and Tall Pines will vote at the college.
Eligible voters overseas will vote at Bahamas embassies or consulates.
And Family Island voters eligible to vote in the advanced poll will vote at various locations, churches and court houses.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
