Automatic voter registration to be trialed in Wales
Wales is set to become the first devolved nation in the UK to trial automatic voter registration.
Four local authorities across Wales will be launching pilots which will evaluate different approaches to registering voters without requiring formal applications.
Instead, they will focus on the local government register, which is also used for Senedd elections.
Carmarthenshire and Powys will be making a replica of the local government register using locally held data. This will allow them to compare which data sources would best identify the local electorate, without changing the existing register.
Council-held data
Gwynedd, Newport and Powys will identify and verify potential electors using council-held data, before adding them to the register.
Gwynedd’s pilot also includes additional outreach work targeting harder-to-reach communities.
Potential electors identified through the pilots will receive notification letters in the near future setting out the process and their options, including the right to opt out, with a 60-day response period before addition to the register.
These new electors will not be added to the open version of the local government register, which is available for marketing purposes, safeguarding the privacy of people added to the register automatically.
Barriers
Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant, said: “By removing barriers to registration, this pioneering work is helping to ensure everyone can participate in our democratic process, particularly young people and traditionally underrepresented groups.
“This initiative follows our extension of voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds and qualifying foreign nationals for Senedd and local elections, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to a more inclusive democracy in Wales.”
The Electoral Commission will evaluate the pilots by the end of this year. The Welsh Government will then consider the findings before making decisions on any nationwide implementation of automatic voter registration, which would require further legislation.
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Good. This should be the standard.
Agree. If you live in a particular place, your right to vote for your elected representatives in that place should be automatic and a matter of course. You shouldn’t need to have to apply for it.
Though I can see that there’s a case that might be made that people should be free to choose not to vote if they so choose. But my own preference would be to make voting compulsory – Australia-style – on the condition that an option for ‘no confidence in any of them’ should be made available on every ballot paper.
Two more suggestions:
1) Tick boxes for “None of the Above” and “I can’t tell the difference”
2) Introduce mandatory voting like Australia
Agree completely.
I’ve been considering setting up a political party called ‘None of the Above’. I would avoid any publicity or campaigning while trying to get a candidate on every ballot card. I suspect I could end up being First Minister or, if I kept my powder dry a couple more years, Prime Minister.
Spoiling your ballot counts for “none of the above”. If a third of votes were spoiled the point would be made.
In the absence of preference voting, low turnout doesn’t make the same point as it can be explained by a foregone conclusion that most registered voters are happy with.
Mandatory voting I would like to try once and see how it goes.
What a blatant attempt to shore up the Labour vote? So now, they don’t even have to bother to register. Shameless!
Are you suggesting the Cons have historically avoided this obvious way to improve democratic engagement to boost their own chances?