Evidence submitted by the Society of Local
Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE)
ELECTORAL ADMINISTRATION
BILL
SOLACE would like to thank the Committee for
the opportunity to give evidence early in its process of scrutinising
the Government's recently published Electoral Administration Bill.
We welcome that there is a Bill and we also
welcome the Minister's open-minded approach to consultation. SOLACE
has been invited to hold monthly meetings with the Minister between
now and May 2006.
We will be giving the Minister independent advice
based on SOLACE members' substantial experience running elections
and we are delighted to share similar advice with the Committee.
There are a number of key measures in the Bill
which we welcome and we shall elaborate on these later in written
evidence. An example is the geater flexibility about fees and
charges.
However, the Bill is limited in that it only
incrementally changes the current system. The challenges of community
engagement in a 21st century multi-cultural democracy require
more radical change that will enable all sections of the community
not only to engage with the democratic process but to see its
value as the best form of government. SOLACE would like to see
a comprehensive review of our outdated Victorian electoral system.
The Bill will have no effect on the 2006 elections
and therefore the passing of appropriate secondary legislation
and guidance before then is essential to maintaining public confidence.
We must do all we can to show that improvements have been made
since the elections in 2005.
Prevention is better than prosecution. Preventing
offences taking place is a more effective way of building public
confidence in the electoral system than prosecuting those who
offend.
Registration is the building block upon which
all else rests. If the registration process is secure and accurate
then the risks further downstream in the electoral process are
significantly reduced. We are interested in the idea of creating
the register from other more secure sources eg DVLA, child benefit.
This would take the emphasis off individuals registering and would
benefit from the in-built checks in those systems. We are also
interested in the system which is place in Northern Ireland, where
public confidence in the electoral system is higher and we would
suggest that the Government looks seriously at what lessons can
be learned from experience there.
Separation of duties. Whilst recognising the
important role political parties have to play in encouraging improved
electoral registration and voter turnout, in order to restore
public confidence in the electoral system there needs to be a
clear separation of duties between the party workers and the Returning
Officer's staff within any new legislation.
We recommend:
— Political party workers should
not issue either electoral registration forms or postal vote application
forms.
— In order that political party
workers can continue to play a role encouraging voters to register
and to turn out, Returning Officers could undertake to despatch
the relevant forms to residents within 24 hours of receipt of
notification.
— To build confidence within parties
that this was carried out effectively, a review of the electronic
register in the run up to the election, and post election a paper
copy of the register could be made available to all political
parties to verify actions have been taken. (This of course would
be subject to the necessary security and confidentiality arrangements
which currently apply to the register.)
— Political Party workers should
not be permitted to collect any election related official stationery
nor to encourage the despatch of such stationery to anywhere other
than the Returning Officer.
— Secondary legislation to make
it an offence for any person other than someone appointed by the
Returning Officer to collect and arrange the bulk delivery of
postal votes. Breach of this rule would be the subject of a significant
fine for the perpetrator, and disqualification of the candidate
for whom they were working where appropriate.
The management of the electoral process is a
unique function within local authorities for which Returning Officers
hold ultimate personal responsibility. ROs are not responsible
to their local authority for the running of elections. It is therefore
quite inappropriate that budgets for a function for which councillors
are not responsible should form part of the normal budgetary process.
We recommend that a level of resources should be agreed (by formula)
between the RO and the DCA for the running of elections. If the
Government wanted to change the role and function of ROs—in
relation to seeking out fraud, for example—this could be
recognised by a change in the level of grant and both sides could
confident that the new service would be properly resourced.
ABOUT SOLACE
SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives
and Senior Managers) is the representative body for senior strategic
managers working in the public sector. Through its policy and
professional development activities, the Society promotes excellence
in public service. Its commercial arm, SOLACE Enterprises, provides
high quality, customer-focused and practical support to local
government and the public and voluntary sectors, both in the UK
and internationally. The SOLACE Foundation carries out educational
and other work which falls within the charitable aspects of the
Society's objectives.
Mike Bennett
Assistant Director General
Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior
Managers (SOLACE)
November 2005
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