Memorandum by Dr Gary Pickering, Electoral
Registration Officer, Trafford Borough Council (VOT 04)
1. INQUIRY INTO
VOTER REGISTRATION
1.1 Submission from Dr Gary Pickering, Electoral
Registration Officer, Trafford Borough Council.
1.2 As the Electoral Registration Officer
I am highlighting administrative concerns relating to individual
registration rather than opinions on its suitability.
2. ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES
OF INDIVIDUAL
REGISTRATION
2.1 One advantage of individual registration
is that allegations of fraud may be able to be substantiated by
comparison to a signature held on file. The introduction of postal
vote on demand has actually created the need to look at how the
register is produced, the allegations of fraud have meant that
something has to be done to try to detect fraud and prove that
it has happened.
2.2 Disadvantages of individual registration
include the doubling of the workload. Personal canvassing is no
longer viable as each person in the house would need to be present
to get the form completed.
2.3 Another disadvantage is the cost of
the canvass would increase with the increased number of forms,
postage etc.
2.4 Using the signature as a means of validity
may not be viable as people's signature may change (broken arm,
illness etc).
2.5 A more overriding disadvantage is that
whole areas of the electorate will not respond, ethnic minorities,
students and young people who are already the poorest responders.
The statistics from Northern Ireland showed a significant drop
in the electorate of 10% when they implemented individual registration.
3. COMPULSORY
REGISTRATION
3.1 Compulsory registration is only as good
as its enforcement. The cost of legal action needs to be taken
into account as significant numbers of people will not register
even if compulsory. This will impact more upon the non-English
reading population and again affect the least well responding
areas.
3.2 Electronic based systems would need
to be heavily funded, the audit trail would need to be strong
enough to ensure fraudulent applications are not feasible. The
question to ask here is what audit trail can be provided and how
can you prosecute fraud committed in hyperspace with no ability
to track the fraudster.
4. ACCESS TO
OTHER DATABASES
4.1 The current electoral register is address
based, moving to individual registration would need several of
the identity areas to be available, DOB, NI and personal electoral
number. The access to the other NI database would need to be real
time access to prevent applicants being prevented from being added
to the register if the cross checking of the NI number was delayed.
4.2 Current election systems would need
to be upgraded to cope with the new system of which I hope additional
funding would be provided.
5. COST AND
IMPLEMENTATION TIMESCALE
5.1 I envisage significantly increased cost
of the new system, upgrading the computer systems, increasing
the number of permanent and temporary staff as well as increases
in postage and administration.
5.2 I would ask for careful consideration
to the implementation of such a change to the electoral registration
system and ask for at least 18 months lead in time to employ,
train and develop staff to be able to provide a quality service.
The lead in time would be necessary for the software companies
as well. All necessary legislation would need to be in place at
least six months prior to the start of the new style canvass.
Gary Pickering
Electoral Registration Officer
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