Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Electoral Commission
RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS FROM THE COMMITTEE
1. What are your future plans for campaigns
and information dispersal to promote electoral registration?
Since the introduction of individual registration,
the Commission has engaged in extensive public awareness campaigns
to coincide with the annual canvass and rolling registration.
For the upcoming canvass we intend building on the efforts of
our previous campaigns to highlight the need for people to register
on an annual basis. Our multi-media public awareness campaign
will feature:
— television and radio advertisements;
— a dedicated website offering information
on the registration process—www.secureyourvote.com;
— a helpline operational from 1 September
until mid-November;
— regional and local newspaper advertising
with a greater emphasis on areas of low registration;
— 90 large poster sites mainly in the
Greater Belfast area;
— posters on bus sides for coverage
in rural areas.
The estimated cost for the 2004 campaign is
£360,000.
The public awareness campaign will also be supported
by public relations activities which will include promoting articles
about electoral registration in the media. Furthermore, a number
of outreach activities will be conducted to promote registration.
Some of these will be undertaken in co-operation with the Electoral
Office for Northern Ireland (EONI). These include:
— The Ideal Home exhibition in September
promoting electoral registration and providing an opportunity
to apply for electoral ID cards.
— A campaign targeting students through
attendance at student freshers events. The campaign will visit
23 campuses and will provide students with an opportunity to register
to vote and apply for an electoral identity card. Promotional
materials encouraging students to register to vote will be included
in 20,000 higher and further education student packs.
— Participation in Local Democracy
Week in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Local Government
Association (NILGA).
— A coordinated campaign to outreach
to Year 13 and 14 pupils in all 400 post-primary schools in Northern
Ireland in an attempt to register attainers.
— A downloadable registration form
will be available on the EONI website with links from other sites
including the Commission's www.secureyourvote.com
While we have a particular responsibility to
promote electoral registration, we also recognise the need to
engage other agencies in supporting the EONI's annual canvass.
To this end, we have invited a range of statutory, voluntary,
charitable, sporting and religious organisations to attend a round
table discussion on 3 September to explore ways in which other
organisations can work with the Commission and EONI to increase
registration rates, particularly amongst the hard to reach groups
identified in our research into the Electoral Fraud Act. This
is likely to be an ongoing element of the Commission's work in
this area.
2. What are your target areas and who are
your target groups?
Target groups
Our report on the Electoral Fraud (Northern
Ireland) Act 2002 identified areas and groups that found it difficult
to access the electoral process as a result of the new legislation.
We found that individual registration tended to have an adverse
impact on young people and students, people with learning disabilities
and other forms of disability and those living in areas of high
social deprivation. Our research also highlighted that these groups
are less likely to have one of the four forms of prescribed photographic
identification.
The Commission is engaging in specific advertising
and outreach campaigns to target these groups. Much of the work
will focus on young people, including:
— the student campus campaign;
— the post-primary schools outreach
campaign;
— promotional activities at locations
likely to be attended by young people.
We are currently in discussion with a number
of agencies, including the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
and the Simon Community, about promoting electoral registration
among people living in areas of high social deprivation. We are
also running an advert in the Law Centre's quarterly magazine,
Frontline, encouraging advice workers to highlight registration.
The publication reaches over 500 voluntary advice organisations.
All public awareness information produced by
the Commission is available, on request, in a range of other formats
including Braille, large print and audio tape. We have also had
discussions with Disability Action on how to best reach disabled
people.
3. How much funding do you have available
on an annual basis for such work?
The amount the Commission can spend on promoting
public awareness of UK electoral systems, systems of government,
and the institutions of the EU under Section 13 of the Political
Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) is capped
by the Electoral Commission (Limit on Public Awareness Expenditure)
Order 2002. The Commission can spend no more than £7.5 million
per annum on this activity across the United Kingdom.
The Commission has developed a broad strategy
for meeting its corporate aim of encouraging greater participation
in, and increased understanding of, the democratic process. The
pattern of spending on s13 activity reflects the timing of elections
but the Commission has recognised the need particularly to promote
awareness of the new registration and photographic ID arrangements
for Northern Ireland. The budget for this is set on an annual
basis.
4. How do you engage and co-opt stakeholders,
such as political parties, into your information campaigns?
The Commission has established an Assembly Parties
Panel that meets on a quarterly basis and is attended by those
parties that have achieved representation in the Northern Ireland
Assembly. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland and
members of his senior management team also attend by invitation.
The meetings provide a forum for key stakeholders to discuss a
broad range of electoral matters, including the Commission's public
awareness campaigns. All the political parties were written to
in July 2004 and asked for their views on how registration could
be promoted.
The Electoral Commission has undertaken an intensive
effort to engage and co-opt key stakeholder groups ahead of the
annual canvass beginning at the end of August 2004. As previously
mentioned we have invited over 40 statutory, voluntary, charitable,
sporting and religious organisations to a round table discussion
in Belfast at the beginning of September to discuss ways of increasing
numbers on the register.
The Commission has corresponded with all Councillors
in the 26 local authorities and with all 108 MLAs asking for their
cooperation in encouraging as many people as possible to register.
Both of these initiatives have been met with a positive response.
The Electoral Commission, the EONI and the Northern
Ireland Office have established a group to coordinate activity
around registration and where applicable share resources and avoid
duplication of effort.
5. Do you believe that the current distribution
of labour between the EONI and The Electoral Commission is optimal?
Both organisations share similar aims and objectives.
We aim to ensure that the electorate in Northern Ireland can participate
fully in well run elections, Although our roles are complementary
we recognise the potential for confusion amongst the public as
to which body is responsible for which activity. It is important
that we maintain close contacts with EONI, that we send clear
messages about our respective responsibilities and that we co-operate
to make best use of available resources.
There is a good working relationship between
the two organisations and only through open dialogue can we ensure
that we work jointly to achieve common aims. However, it is fair
to say that the arrival of the Commission on the scene has prompted
the EONI to examine what its role should be. It would appear to
have changed little since its establishment in 1973. We welcome
such a review as enabling EONI to more clearly establish its operational
priorities and resource needs. We look to NIO to ensure that the
EONI is properly funded to carry out the tasks it is given.
For the Commission's part, we wish to ensure
that the resources we have at our disposal are used to complement
and support the work of EONI. Joint working can bring real benefits
and the respective investment of resources will reflect particular
circumstances. In some areas the Commission will take the lead
and in others it will be the EONI—liaison and co-operation
are key. Since the opening of our office in Northern Ireland in
2002 there has developed a mutual understanding of our respective
roles and a willingness to work together to deliver real improvements
in the electoral process.
31 August 2004
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