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Today, the Prime Minister - who's seen more than a few phantom voters in his two plus decades as Queen Square Rep - was, as you might expect, very understanding of the practice as a fact of political life. As he put it, life is real:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"You're absolutely right. If that is the sin, it is a sin of which both parties are guilty. In terms of any individual charges, you go to court, and the revising officer will determine after hearing evidence, whether in fact, people have been properly registered. The objections are made by those who claim otherwise, the judicial process will make the ultimate determination."

Reporter
"Sir, but, shouldn't the practice of democracy be fair, given that your opponents should know where all the voters are? This registering of people who don't live in a particular constituency because your opponents can't find who these voters are. That's the tactic."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow
"Well, there are some people who argue. I remember - I won't call her name, but there was one registration officer who said, all I'm concerned that the person who comes to register is not already registered. Once there is no double registration, wherever you say you live, that's alright with me because you'll only be able to vote one time in one place. That's perhaps an extreme position, but I content myself with saying that you may be right the rules of transparency people ought to register where they truly live. But that's why there's a process, and that's why the courts are involved."

Reporter
"What would you to those who believe that this practice of registering where you don't live weakens the voter's list because it's one step closer to fraud where you can double register?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow
"No, no, that's just it, as I said, double registration is something that's fairly easily caught. And that, there are extreme penalties for that. And that's not a matter of going before a revising officer and trying to argue anything. If you double register, that's it. You're in trouble. So, I think that's a completely different situation."

Reporter
"PM, don't you take the criticism that we've just spent 8 million - they wanted more - for a re-registration process that some people are saying has gone down the drain, if we don't have a clean list."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow
"This is how far things go. Life is real, and I think we must be honest. People who are determined to register at an address, at which the don't live, they get their ducks in a row. When the registering officer goes to try and authenticate or verify that applicant a lives at a particular address, applicant a has already arranged things with the homeowner, or with the neighbors to say yes, applicant a does live here. I'm not quite sure what you can do about that."

"But ultimately, you are right in saying that as the system is now set up, People should register where they truly live. That you'll continue to have both sides, a number of individuals running red lights, so to speak, is again, I think, an unchangeable fact of our political system and political landscape."

During the 90's it was estimated that as many as 40% of the voters in Queens Square were phantoms- or as they are known colloquially, "kufeng's." The same percentage is believed to have applied in other garrison divisions such as Fort George and Albert.