Policy and Resources Committee 8 October 2004

From Nigov

B3003

Policy and Resources Committee

Friday, 8th October, 2004

SPECIAL MEETING OF POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Members present: Councillor Hartley (Chairman); and Councillors M. Browne, Crooks, Hanna, Lavery, Long, McCann, Newton, O’Reilly, Rodgers and Walsh.

In attendance: Mr. R. Wilson, Assistant Chief Executive; Mr. L. Steele, Head of Committee and Members' Services; and Mr. J. Hanna, Senior Committee Administrator.

Electoral Registration in Northern Ireland

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 20th August, it had agreed that a special meeting be held to receive presentations from representatives of the Electoral Commission and the Electoral Office in respect of electoral registration in Northern Ireland.

It was reported that Ms. A. Allen, Ms. J. McCarley and Mr. G. Quinn, Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, and Mr. R. McCaffery, the Electoral Commission, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.

Ms, McCarley advised the Members that the objective of the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland was to facilitate the registration of all those persons who would be eligible for inclusion in the Register of Electors, the next edition of which was scheduled to be published on 1st December, 2004. She reviewed the Northern Ireland Electoral Framework, including the number of registered electors, Council wards, District Electoral Areas, District Councils and Parliamentary Constituencies. She explained that the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland had its headquarters in Belfast, with nine area offices located strategically throughout the country.

She reviewed the persons who were eligible to register to vote and the information which was required on the electoral registration form. She explained how the current electoral registration process was being undertaken. This involved canvassers, who were agents of the Electoral Office, delivering over a six-week period registration forms to over 700,000 dwellings. The canvassers would call back to the dwellings within a period of ten days to collect the completed forms and, if necessary, leave freepost envelopes to enable those who had not completed their forms to return them to the Electoral Office. She stated that a reminder would be sent out at the end of October to those eligible electors who had yet to register, with a final cut off date of 17th November for registration.

Ms. McCarley highlighted the outreach work which had been undertaken in order to reach potential voters, which had included the targeting of schools and colleges, the use of District Councils, Community Centres, libraries, benefit offices, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and youth clubs to distribute registration forms, the location of a stand at the Ideal Home Exhibition to promote the use of photographic identification and a ‘roadshow’ at universities and colleges.

Mr. McCaffery reviewed the role of the Electoral Commission, which was a United Kingdom-wide independent public body, the functions and powers of which were set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. He stated that the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, which had been introduced to combat the perception of the public that electoral fraud was prevalent in Northern Ireland, had changed fundamentally the voter registration process in the Province. The Act required the public to register individually on an annual basis and to produce prescribed photographic identification when attending polling stations to vote during elections. The Electoral Commission had undertaken research to ascertain the impact which the Act had had on registration. The research had indicated that the Act had been successful in eliminating perceptions of fraud but that individual registration tended to have an adverse impact on specific groups in society such as young people and students, disabled people and persons living in areas of higher social deprivation.

Mr. McCaffery advised the Members that, when the household registration exercise had been undertaken in August, 2002, 95.4% of the population over the age of eighteen years of age had been included on the Electoral Register. However, an analysis of the September, 2004 register had indicated that the current registration rate stood at 85% of that age group. Electoral registration in Belfast had been particularly affected since the implementation of the Act, with a notable fall in the numbers registered in each of the four Belfast Parliamentary Constituencies as set out hereunder:

	August, 2002 Registration	September, 2003 (Used for Assembly Election)	May, 2004 (Used at the European Parliamentary Election)
Belfast East	57,592	51,852	49,983
Belfast North	59,199	51,356	49,625
Belfast South	58,778	50,707	49,514
Belfast West	58,588	50,873	48,915

Mr. McCaffery explained that the Electoral Commission had undertaken a number of public awareness campaigns in order to help address the decline in electoral registration. The campaigns had been successful in raising awareness of individual registration and identification requirements but it was felt that a more targeted approach was required to reach those groups currently under-represented on the register. In this regard, the Commission had forged partnerships with a number of statutory and voluntary sector organisations. In addition, the Electoral Commission had been working in conjunction with local District Councils to increase the levels of registration. This had involved providing supplies of registration forms and information leaflets in Council offices and Political Party Advice Centres, raising the issue of registration with the local media and using the Commission’s outreach programme to increase awareness among young people.

A Member suggested that the canvassing of electors should be conducted over a longer period to enable more persons to register. In addition, canvassers needed to be trained properly to ensure they advised households to include persons who were aged seventeen at the time of registration but would be eighteen and therefore eligible to vote at subsequent elections.

Several Members expressed the view that, while the Electoral Fraud Act had been successful in changing the perception that electoral fraud was commonplace, nevertheless annual registration had caused a number of problems and they did not consider it necessary for electors to complete forms on an annual basis. This was demanding in terms of resources. Accordingly, the Committee expressed the view that the legislation should be amended to require registration on a less frequent basis.

After further discussion, the Committee noted the information which had been provided and the Chairman, on behalf of the Members, thanked the representatives of the Northern Ireland Electoral Office and the Electoral Commission for attending and they retired from the meeting.

Chairman