Voters could miss out

Voters will be denying themselves the opportunity to vote because they are not on the electoral register come polling day, according to a new report published by the Electoral Commission, the independent elections watchdog. The findings come as a performance assessment by the Commission shows that four in ten Electoral Registration Officers in Great Britain are not doing enough to promote electoral registration in their local community.

The report – The Completeness and accuracy of electoral registers in Great Britain – provides a snap shot of electoral registers in eight local authorities, as well as using other national data, to give a picture of changing trends in registration in Great Britain. The report found that in the case study areas:

· Non-registration is higher among certain groups, particularly young people aged 17-24 years old (56 per cent not registered) and people from black and minority ethnic communities (31 per cent not registered).

· People changing address is a key reason for non-registration. Just 21 per cent of those living at their present address for a year or less are registered to vote.

Using national data the report also shows that while traditionally London has experienced lower registration rates, they may now be in decline in other metropolitan areas.

Research by the Commission using the 2001 Census found that the electoral register in England and Wales was 91-92 per cent complete, meaning that at the time 3.5 million eligible voters were not registered.

Registration rates appear to have stabilised since 2006, but because of a decline in the early part of the decade the registration level may still be lower than the 2001 estimate. The Commission will make a new estimate of the registration level in Great Britain after the 2011 Census.

“A UK general election can be called at any time, and there might only be a few days to register to vote in time, once it has been called. Anyone who isn’t sure if they are registered should visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk now,” said Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission.

A key finding of the report was that millions of people could be falling off the register if they move house in between annual canvasses. Electoral Registration Officers carry out canvasses to update the register on a yearly basis and these take place every autumn. The completeness of the register may fall by around 10 percentage points in between canvasses.

Ms Watson added: “We want the next UK Government and Parliament to look at the way we deliver electoral registration in this country, to ensure that it better serves voters’ needs. We need to look at ways of getting more co-ordination and leadership among the 379 local registration officers operating, in most part, in isolation from each other across Great Britain. And we need to ask fundamental questions about the timing of our annual canvass in the autumn when elections are typically in the spring.”

The Commission has also published its annual assessment on performance by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in 2009. The standards assess how effectively EROs are delivering their duty to maintain complete and accurate registers. The assessment shows that there has been some improvement across all the standards, but gaps in performance remain. Performance against the standards for participation – which measure the plans EROs have in place to promote electoral registration in their local community – was particularly weak: forty-one per cent of EROs across Great Britain failed to meet the standard.

“Registration officers have a legal duty to promote participation in the registration process, but we found many don’t have strategic plans in place to do so. This isn’t good enough when our registration report shows the need for more targeted action. We have asked every registration officer to make one final push before the general election.” said Ms Watson.