Polling in Vanuatu elections. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Vanuatu's electoral office says it's hoping to crack down on duplicate voting as it prepares to send new electoral cards to people who lost theirs when cyclone Pam struck in March.
The principal electoral officer, Charles Vatu, says voters who need new cards for January's election should go to their local registration officers to have their identity verified.
He says the office has taken measures to prevent what happened in the 2012 election, where people voted multiple times using multiple cards.
Mr Vatu says he expects double registration will still be an issue this election, but in an effort to manage it, everyone who wishes to case a proxy vote has to be personally certified by himself.
"Which means that every person that is registered to vote in any polling station and resides in Vanuatu on polling day has to go in person on polling day to cast his or her vote."
Charles Vatu says there are currently about 200,000 people registered for the snap election scheduled to take place on the 22nd of January.