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Electoral Commission - Voters must come first at the Scottish referendum

The Electoral Commission, the independent elections watchdog, has yesterday published its response to both the Scottish and UK Government consultations on the Scottish referendum. The Commission’s response focuses on how to deliver a referendum that is run in the interests of voters and identifies issues where both governments will need to continue to work together to ensure this happens.

John McCormick, Electoral Commissioner for Scotland said:

“We have issued a single response to both the Scottish and UK government consultations because there are a number of issues where they will need to continue to work together to ensure the referendum is run in the interests of voters.  A clear process for agreeing the question - that includes sufficient time for it to be independently tested with voters - will be particularly important.

“The people of Scotland face an historic decision and the referendum must take place in a way that is transparent, open to scrutiny, gives voters confidence and delivers a result accepted by all. We have made a number of recommendations about how both governments’ proposals may be strengthened to achieve this.  We will continue to provide advice and scrutiny to both governments as they take this work forward.”

The Commission’s recommendations in response to the consultations include:

  • Establishing the legal framework. The legal framework must be clear and in place in sufficient time for Counting Officers and campaigners to plan for the referendum, with confirmation of the rules at least 28 weeks before the proposed polling day.
  • Question assessment. It is essential that voters can easily understand the question and its implications. While the decision on the final referendum question wording is for parliamentarians to take, their scrutiny of the question should be informed by clear and independent advice on the proposed question - based on independent and transparent research with voters. The relevant legislation must set out clearly and unambiguously who is ultimately responsible for providing this independent advice to Parliament.
  • The Electoral Commission would welcome the opportunity to undertake this research with voters and provide this advice to Parliaments, as we have done for previous referendums. Our question assessment process includes carrying out qualitative research with voters; taking advice from accessibility and plain language specialists and asking prospective campaigners, politicians and other interested people for their views. This process would take up to 12 weeks to complete and that should be allowed for in the legislative timetable.
  • Chief Counting Officer. The Chief Counting Officer for the referendum should be the Convener of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland. The Commission recommends that she is appointed by – and accountable to – the Scottish Parliament in this role. The referendum legislation should provide the Commission with a specific power to provide support to the CCO.

The Commission’s response identifies the need for clear and unambiguous rules on designating lead campaigners for each of the referendum outcomes, particularly if there are to be more than two outcomes.  It also addresses a number of practical implications that will need to be considered if the franchise is extended to 16 and 17 year olds and if polling takes place on a Saturday.

The Electoral Commission’s response to both consultations is available at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/146927/The-Scottish-referendum-Response-to-consultations.pdf

For further information contact:

Press office on 0131 225 0211 or 0207 271 0704, out of office hours 0778 9920414

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.
  2. The Local Electoral Administration (Scotland) Act 2011 extended the remit of the Electoral Commission to cover local government elections in Scotland including providing information to the public on how to participate in the elections; setting the standards for well-run polls and reporting to the Scottish Parliament on how well they were run.
  3. Further information about the Commission’s principles for the running of referendums and learning from the two referendums conducted last year are on our website: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/referendums
  4. More information on the Commission’s approach to question assessment can be found at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/referendums/our-role-and-responsibilities

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