Following their appointment by Governor Jane Owen, the seven-member domestic election and referendum observation team has established their private and confidential Headquarters, located in Cricket Square. The observers are scheduled to undergo training led by a law school professor on both domestic and international election observation protocols before officially beginning their duties. Earlier this week, the team participated in a briefing session with Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell and his deputies. They are also expected to meet with the international observation mission from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association British Islands and Mediterranean Region, who will be in the Cayman Islands next week. While the domestic observers will attend some joint stakeholder meetings alongside the international team, they will not discuss findings with them and will instead draw their own independent conclusions. The domestic election and referendum observers were chosen from applicants by a committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, who then made recommendations to Governor Owen. The team consists of Head of Mission Deborah Ebanks, along with Nelva Ebanks, Briony Gallegos, Abraham Mathew, Brittany MacVicar, Marc Thomas and Valerie Ritch. Collectively, they bring a wealth of expertise in election supervision, audit, accounting, business development, community engagement, planning, compliance, management, and law. Among their roles and responsibilities, the domestic election and referendum observers will observe the entire electoral period and all polling stations. This includes the postal ballots issued on Saturday 19 April, mobile voting which will start on 22 April, election and referendum day counting and any potential recount, and post-election and referendum issues that may arise. Some members of the team will also be deployed to Cayman Brac to observe voting activities on the Sister Islands on 30 April. In addition, the team will be carrying out observations of the Command Centre, the information hub on general election and referendum day. From a candidate’s perspective, the observers will also monitor campaign meetings, rallies, and any other activities. In commenting on the work of the observers, Miss Ebanks stated, “The members of the domestic mission team are very enthusiastic and I too would like to thank them for putting themselves out there to serve in this capacity to ensure that our election process is carried out fairly and in keeping with Cayman’s record of high-quality elections.” The team is being supported by alternate observers Jessica Anderson and Colleen Stoetzel. Contact: Head of Mission, Deborah Ebanks.