As the clock counts down to Antigua and Barbuda’s upcoming April 30 general election, official data from the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) confirms that replacement requests for voter identification cards have surged past the 30,000 threshold, bringing most electoral districts close to full compliance with pre-election voter registration requirements.
The commission’s official *Replacement Voter ID Card Report* documents that a total of 30,392 replacement applications had been processed by the end of April 2026, a figure that highlights a dramatic acceleration in voter activity over the past month. Activity began at a measured pace at the start of the year, with just 355 applications submitted in January and 508 in February. The first major uptick came in March, when applications jumped to 4,168, and momentum has only grown as polling day approaches.
April has emerged as the busiest month for the replacement drive by far, with 7,041 applications processed in the month to date. The highest demand was recorded in the middle of April: between April 5 and 11, the commission handled 2,894 requests, and the following week (April 12 to 18) saw an even higher 2,981 applications, making these two weeks the most active period of the entire pre-election replacement campaign.
When broken down by constituency, progress varies across the country but every district has already crossed the 50% completion mark. The rural constituency of St. Peter leads all districts with an 89% completion rate, followed by the island of Barbuda at 77% and St. Philip North at 75%. Other constituencies including All Saints West (67%), St. Mary’s South (66%), and St. George (63%) have also posted solid participation rates. The slowest progress has been recorded in more densely populated urban constituencies around the capital St. John’s: St. John’s Rural South stands at 57% completion, while St. John’s Rural West is at 58%.
For weeks, ABEC has run a public outreach campaign urging all eligible voters to replace or update their existing voter ID cards ahead of polling day, a step the commission says is critical to preventing delays and ensuring voting runs smoothly on election day. With the April 30 vote just days away, the latest data shows a sustained nationwide push by voters to complete the ID process ahead of the general election.