APPENDIX 5
Extract from a letter from the Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland to the Chairman of the Committee
Turning to the Committee's concerns about the
issue of Electoral ID cards, getting people registered etc, the
position is as follows. As of 1 September (the cut-off day for
registering to vote for the Assembly election) the number of people
registered to vote stood at 1,097,551. This compares 1,088,947
who were registered as of 1 March 2003. There has been a drop
in numbers from the pre-Electoral Fraud Act Register (which totalled
1,204,547) but this can be largely accounted for by the fact that
it is usual for 10-15% of those registered not to re-register
the following year. Previously this has been disguised because
voters were given a year's grace before having their names removed
from the register. This does not happen now that individual registration
has been introduced under the Electoral Fraud Act 2002.
Turning to the Electoral Identity Card, since
25 March 2003 approximately 54,000 cards have been issued. The
total number of cards issued as at 17 November was 82,157. The
card, one of the four specified documents of which one is needed
to be presented at the polling station in order to vote, has been
issued free of charge to all those who have applied for it.
More generally, measures that were taken to
highlight the need for individual registration and, if necessary,
to apply for the card included:
— A high profile TV and radio advertising
campaign;
— The Chief Electoral Officer writing
to MPs, MLAs and individuals who indicated they needed a card;
and
— The setting up of mobile Electoral
Identity Card application centres.
10 December 2003
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