Electoral Commission
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Elections in May 2015 were well run, but online electoral registration should be extended to Northern Ireland, says electoral watchdog

The May 2015 polls were well-run overall with high levels of voter satisfaction finds a report by the independent elections watchdog. However it also makes clear that online electoral registration should be extended to Northern Ireland.

The Electoral Commission’s UK wide report found that:

  • Nine in ten people (93% in Northern Ireland and 91% across the UK) said the elections in May were well-run.
  • Nearly all (95% in Northern Ireland and 94% across the UK) of those who voted in person at a polling station were satisfied with the process.

Electoral registration

Ahead of the election just over 8,000 people in Northern Ireland registered to vote or updated their personal details by completing an electoral registration form and returning it to their local area electoral office. During the same time there were 2.6 million applications to register to vote in England, Scotland and Wales leading to over 1.5 million additions to the electoral registers. The Commission’s report found that 85% of people in Great Britain were satisfied with the procedure for registering to vote.

Ann Watt, Head of the Electoral Commission’s office in Northern Ireland, said:

“It’s clear that voters in Great Britain found online registration a convenient way of getting onto the electoral register. As such we have made clear in our report that online registration should be extended to Northern Ireland.”

“This will require both legislative change in the UK Parliament and significant changes to the management of the electoral register by the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. That is why we are calling on the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office to publish a timetable setting out when this will happen”. 

Election counts

At the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election and the 2014 European Parliamentary election there was criticism of the time it took to complete the counts. Our reports on these elections found that a number of factors including a lack of management and communications as well as the poor quality of some count staff had contributed to these delays. 

The 2015 report finds that there were clear improvements made to the management of the count in Northern Ireland at this election. All of the counts were completed within eight hours of the close of polls. 

Ann Watt added: 

“It is essential that the Chief Electoral Officer builds on this success ahead of the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election. We have already given a commitment to work with him to look at what can be done to improve the efficiency of the manual counting of Single Transferable Vote (STV) elections in Northern Ireland. We are now undertaking a project to look at the management of STV counts in Northern Ireland, which will seek to identify what can be done to improve the efficiency of such counts”.

ID at polling stations

Amongst its recommendations in this report the Commission has reiterated its 2014 recommendation that voters at polling stations in England, Scotland and Wales should be required to present photographic ID before casting their vote. Such a requirement for photographic ID at polling stations in Northern Ireland has been in place since 2002. A post-election survey conducted by the Commission found that 99% of people in Northern Ireland are aware of the requirement to take a valid form photographic ID with them to vote. 

To see the Commission’s report, click here. The Commission has also published alongside this report its public opinion research from May’s polls here and a review of public awareness activity conducted by the Electoral Commission and other organisations ahead of the May 2015 polls here   

For further information contact:
Cahir Hughes in the Electoral Commission press office on 028 9089 4023 orchughes@electoralcommission.org.uk 
Out of office hours 07789 920 414

Notes to editors

  1. The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulation of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).
  2. On 7 May 2015 elections were held for the 650 members of the United Kingdom Parliament and for local councillors in all 36 Metropolitan boroughs, 194 district authorities and 49 Unitary authorities in England. There were also elections for directly-elected Mayors in six English local authorities, a council tax referendum in Bedfordshire, and neighbourhood planning referendums in Central Milton Keynes, Malpas & Overton (Cheshire West & Chester) and Wirksworth (Derbyshire Dales).
  3. In total, 134 political parties contested the 2015 General Election and 3,791 candidates stood for election.
  4. A total of 46.4 million people were registered to vote at the 2015 General Election. Some 30.8 million votes were included in the count, representing an overall turnout of 66.4%.
  5. Although there were 2.3 million applications submitted to register to vote online in Great Britain, the reason why there are 1.5 million additions to the register include the fact that some people will already have been registered to vote and submitted a duplicate application; or they may not have provided all the required information before submitting.
  6. To see the Commission’s 2014 report that recommended that voters in England, Scotland and Wales be required to show photographic ID before casting their vote at a polling station, click here.

 

Channel website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk

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