| Date | Event
| Notes |
| 23 Feb 2005 | First meeting of the re-established Elections Steering Group. The group considered whether the legislation sub-group should be split into two groups dealing with Parliament and local government legislation separately, but concluded that as the two sets of legislation were closely linked, the work should be carried out through one sub-group.
| This model was used in 2003 and was commended by the Electoral Commission in Oct 2003: "The working group model adopted to aid the development and implementation of administrative matters surrounding the elections should continue for all future major elections in Scotland". The 2007 Elections Steering Group was set up to provide a forum for those organisations with statutory responsibilities (and others with expert knowledge, such as the Scottish Assessors Association) to discuss issues relating to the planning and delivery of the Scottish Parliamentary and local elections. The group was chaired by an official from the Scottish Executive and included representatives from the Scotland Office, the Electoral Commission, and various groups representing Returning Officers and electoral administrators.
|
| 11 Oct 2005 | Electoral Administration Bill introduced. (Westminster)
| Responds to Electoral Commission's recommendations from Voting For Change and Delivering Democracy, including on postal vote fraud, introduction of personal identifiers and Co-ordinated Online Register of Electors (CORE).
|
| 20 Dec 2005 | Local Electoral Administration and Registration Bill introduced. (Holyrood)
| Scottish Executive mirrors provisions in the EA Bill in its own Bill to apply to local government elections which are devolved.
|
| 11 July 2006 | Electoral Administration Bill receives Royal Assent. (Westminster)
| Bill slightly delayed in being enacted due to debate between Lords and Commons on individual registration.
|
| 1 Aug 2006 | Local Electoral Administration and Registration Bill receives Royal Assent. (Holyrood)
| |
| 21 Aug 2006 | First draft of Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order circulated to legislation subgroup. (Westminster)
| *See Appendix for overview of the draft versions of the Order.
|
| 14 Sept 2006 | Early draft of Order for formal consultation with the Electoral Commission. (Westminster)
| Commission was provided with earlier draft for comment and so their guidance could be developed.
|
| Mid-late Sept 2006 | Scottish Executive commission user research from Cragg Ross Dawson about design of local government ballot paper. (Holyrood)
| At a meeting with Secretary of State on 18 Sept, Tom McCabe indicated their intention to wait for their research and consultation findings before deciding on design of their paper.
|
| 9 Nov 2006 | Formal statutory consultation on the Order with the Electoral Commission (Westminster)
| A final draft now circulated to the Electoral Commission.
|
| Sept-Nov | Scottish Executive consultation on design of local government ballot paper. (Holyrood)
| |
| 16 Nov 2006 | Publication of Cragg Ross Dawson's research on local government ballot paper. (Holyrood)
| Research indicated voter preference for grouping candidates by party.
|
| 1 Dec 2006 | Scottish Executive press release. (Holyrood)
| Executive unable to conclude what the design of the ballot paper should be and so they announce they are taking it to Parliamentary Committee for decision.
|
| 12 Dec 2006 | Scottish Parliament Local Government and Transport Committee debate Local Government election rules. (Holyrood)
| Delay caused by Executive's decision in Sept to consult and commission research. The Committee considered whether the ballot paper should be ordered alphabetically or by party.
|
| 13 Dec 2006 | Local Government election rules laid. (Holyrood)
| |
| 19 Dec 2006 | Formal response from Electoral Commission to draft Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order. (Westminster)
| Response from the Electoral Commission received and considered by officials and lawyers. Most comments, including those seeking consistent wording for instructions to voters throughout the Order, taken on board.
|
| 23 Jan 2007 | Local Government election rules debated. (Holyrood)
| Debated in Local Government and Transport Committee.
|
| 25 Jan 2007 | Local Government election rules debated in Parliament. (Holyrood)
| Debated in main chamber of Scottish Parliament.
|
| 1 Feb 2007 | Local Government election rules signed and made. (Holyrood)
| The Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order includes rules providing for the combination of the Scottish Parliamentary and Scottish local elections. As such, the Order could not be laid in Westminster prior to the approval of the Local Government rules at Holyrood.
|
| 7 Feb 2007 | Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order laid. (Westminster)
| |
| 20 Feb 2007 | Scottish Parliament Order scrutinised by Lords Merits Committee. (Westminster)
| |
| 28 Feb 2007 | Scottish Parliament Order scrutinised by Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. (Westminster)
| Earliest meeting of the JCSI that could consider the Order, owing to Parliamentary recess.
|
| 7 March 2007 | Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order debated in both Houses of Parliament. (Westminster)
| Debates in both Lords and Commons on the same day. Dummy ballot papers provided as examples to Commons Committee members to assist debate. Order approved without division.
|
| 14 March 2007 | Scottish Parliament [Elections] Order signed and made. (Westminster)
| Signed by Secretary of State for Scotland.
Although it had been announced that there would be a single ballot paper, the Order was permissive in that it allowed Returning Officers to revert to separate papers and, while setting minimum requirements for the design, provided some flexibility to allow for contingencies (eg increased numbers of candidates). It also made provision for Returning Officers to choose to count manually. This flexibility reflected the structure of previous electoral law.
|
| Date | Event |
Notes |
| 23 Feb 2005 | First meeting of the re-established Elections Steering Group. The group was chaired by an official from the Scottish Executive and included representatives from the Scotland Office, the Electoral Commission, and various groups representing Returning Officers and electoral administrators.
| This model was used in 2003 and was commended by the Electoral Commission in Oct 2003: "The working group model adopted to aid the development and implementation of administrative matters surrounding the elections should continue for all future major elections in Scotland". The 2007 Elections Steering Group was set up to provide a forum for those organisations with statutory responsibilities (and others with expert knowledge, such as the Scottish Assessors Association) to discuss issues relating to the planning and delivery of the Scottish Parliamentary and local elections.
|
| 17 May 2005 | Subgroup of the Elections Steering Group set up to consider the introduction of electronic counting for 2007 Elections.
| Minutes record that Scottish Executive Ministers had given agreement that work be taken forward to introduce e-counting.
|
| 19 July 2005 | Submission to Secretary of State from officials.
| Minister invited to agree, and agreed, that the Scottish Parliament ballot could be included in the procurement specification for e-counting being developed by the Scottish Executive.
|
| Aug 2005 | E-counting Invitation to Tender issued by Scottish Executive.
| Four responses received. |
| 10 Nov 2005 | Evaluation of 3 shortlisted e-counting tenders.
| Tenders evaluated by evaluation panel including Scottish Executive, election administrators and the Scotland Office.
|
| Dec 2005 | DRS awarded e-counting contract for Stage 1 by Scottish Executive.
| Unanimous agreement by the panel that DRS to be awarded contract for trial stage of contract.
|
| 19 Jan 2006 | Arbuthnott Commission reports to Scottish Executive and Scotland Office.
| Commission recommends revision of the design of the ballot papers used in Scottish Parliamentary elections with the aim of conveying better the way the voting system operates. It cites the New Zealand ballot paper, in which the regional and constituency votes are presented side by side, with the regional paper to the left.
|
| Feb/March 2006 | Trials of e-counting take place.
| The trial phase of the project took place in February/March 2006 over the course of three weeks, with a week spent in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Each of the 32 local authorities was invited to one of these sessions (31 of the 32 attended with East Ayrshire having to withdraw at a late stage due to unforeseen circumstances). All local authority respondents recommended in feedback that the project should proceed to its second phase. Based on this and the observations of evaluation panel members (the evaluation panel consisted of representatives of Returning Officers, Scottish Executive officials, Scottish Executive procurement staff and Scotland Office officials), the decision was taken to proceed to the acceptance phase.
|
| 7 March 2006 | Meeting between Tom McCabe and Mr Cairns at which there is a detailed discussion about e-counting.
| Mr Cairns indicated that he and the Secretary of State agreed in principle that e-counting could be considered as a possible option for Scottish Parliament elections. Mr Cairns did not indicate any formal decision to go ahead at this stage until further evidence considered.
|
| 24 March 2006 | Demonstration of e-counting to Scotland Office Ministers.
| Demonstration completed successfully. |
| 31 March 2006 | Secretary of State asks for further advice pursuant to the First Minister's request to alter the ballot paper design in line with the recommendation in the Arbuthnott report.
| Request from First Minister made during meeting with Secretary of State on 31 March.
|
| 20 April 2006 | Submission to Secretary of State about proceeding with single ballot paper for Scottish Parliament election.
| Outlines the case for and against moving to a single ballot paper principally raising concerns about the practical implications for e-counting and highlighting the need for political consensus and full consultation prior to decision.
|
| w/c 24 April 2006 | E-counting testing and demonstrations to political parties, media and others, during acceptance phase.
| A week of testing and demonstrations as part of the Project's acceptance phase. The first part of the week focused on resilience and system tests, including interruption to power supply, scanning damaged or crumpled ballot papers and a recount test. The second part of the week provided eight demonstrations to MSPs, councillors, local government election officials and the press.
|
| | An Evaluation Panel, which included Returning Officers and officials from the Scottish Executive and the Scotland Office, agreed that the e-counting system had met the success criteria and that they were content to recommend that e-counting be introduced for the 2007 combined elections.
|
| 28 April 2006 | In response to the submission of 20 April, the Secretary of State asks for further advice on the single ballot paper, following suggestions from DRS that electronic counting would not require double scanning, as had been previously thought.
| E-mail from Private Office explains Secretary of State's understanding that if both elections were combined on the same ballot paper this would not require two separate scanning processes.
|
| 5 May 2006 | Douglas Alexander becomes Secretary of State for Scotland, taking over from Alastair Darling.
| |
| 8 May 2006 | Submission to Secretary of State revising ballot paper design advice following previous Secretary of State's comments on the 20 April submission and further discussions with DRS (the e-counting supplier).
| The submission reports that a single ballot paper would be possible and that it could be beneficial in terms of cutting down the time taken to e-count votes. The submission states that consultation will be needed and asks whether the Secretary of State is content for officials to raise the issue at the Electoral Commission's Political Parties Panel on 16 May.
|
| 15 May 2006 | Secretary of State consents to the idea of a single ballot paper being raised at the Electoral Commission's Political Parties Panel in Edinburgh on 16 May.
| |
| 16 May 2006 | Electoral Commission's Political Parties Panel meets in Edinburgh and discusses idea of a single ballot paper with the regional list on the left.
| Meeting attended by representatives of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Conservative Party, Scottish National Party, Scottish Green Party, Scottish Labour Party, the Electoral Commission, the Royal Mail, the Scottish Executive and the Scotland Office.
For a description of the response to the idea of a single paper, see the entry below for 23 May.
|
| 22 May 2006 | Submission to Secretary of State recommending introduction of e-counting.
| Submission reports on the acceptance phase, sets out the advantages of e-counting, explains the funding implications, proposes a press release.
|
| 23 May 2006 | Ministers receive submission advising them to seek confirmation from Scottish Ministers that they are content for the single ballot paper consultation to proceed; and to confirm they were content with the draft provided.
Submission also reports that "the [Political Parties] Panel gave a muted but generally positive response to the idea [of a single ballot paper] and none of those present registered any fundamental objections."
| Agreement is given and on 27 May Mr Cairns writes to Scottish Minister for Finance and Local Government, Tom McCabe, in advance of the formal consultation beginning.
|
| 25 May 2006 | Letter from Tom McCabe, Scottish Executive Minister to Secretary of State inviting formal agreement to the introduction of e-counting for Scottish Parliament elections.
| Letter followed meetings in the course of April and May between Ministers where the positive support of electoral administrators and others had been noted.
|
| 6 June 2006 | Letter sent from Tom McCabe to Mr Cairns, stating that he and the First Minister were content with the single ballot paper consultation proceeding.
| Email from Scottish Executive officials supplemented the letter with feedback from Tom McCabe requesting that the consultation include the possibility that the paper might be arranged so that the regional list of parties is presented alphabetically, with the constituency list arranged so that candidates would be aligned across the page according to their party (known as corresponding order).
|
| 7 June 2006 | Letter from Secretary of State to Tom McCabe signalling formal agreement to e-counting.
| |
| 9 June 2006 | Joint Scotland Office and Scottish Executive press release announcing intention to e-count both local government and Scottish Parliamentary elections and launch of consultation on single ballot paper options.
| Ballot paper consultation is to last six weeks. Views are sought from political parties, the Electoral Commission and other key stakeholders.
|
| 9 June 2006 | Scotland Office asks Electoral Commission to conduct research with voters to assess the impact of a single ballot paper.
| Letter from Scotland Office to Electoral Commission asking the Commission to "take soundings of voters through focus group work or in another way, in order to assess the impact of any possible change in the ballot paper format".
|
| July 2006 | Electoral Commission commission voter research from from Cragg Ross Dawson.
| Research carried out between 11 and 20 July.
|
| 20 July 2006 | First meeting of E-counting Project Board.
| Project Board established in line with PRINCE2 Project Management methodology to oversee the delivery of e-counting. Project Board chaired by senior Scottish Executive official.
|
| 27 July 2006 | Mr Cairns meets Electoral Commission, Electoral Reform Society, Capability Scotland and RNIB Scotland to hear their views on ballot paper design.
| Also attended by Scottish Executive officials. Disability groups urge that two colours be used on the single ballot paper and that instructions are simplified to allow font size to be bigger. It was also suggested that aligning candidates with their parties (corresponding order layout) could make it easier for those with a visual impairment to vote.
|
| 4 Aug 2006 | Letter sent from Sir Neil McIntosh, Electoral Commissioner, to David Cairns, including the Cragg Ross Dawson report conducted on the Commission's behalf.
| The first conclusion set out in the letter is that the interests of the voter would best be served by `a design of ballot paper that incorporates both the regional and constituency ballot papers alongside each other on a single sheet of paper".
|
| 7 Aug 2006 | Public consultation on single ballot paper closes and officials prepare advice for Ministers about next steps.
| 29 responses, (plus three responses received late but also taken into account). A total of 25 responses were in favour of the single ballot paper, including those received from the Electoral Commission, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Labour Party.
Aside from those in support, the Scottish Socialist Party, Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, The Liberal Party in Scotland, Enable Scotland and Capability Scotland were not in favour of a combined ballot paper. RNIB Scotland did not oppose the introduction of a single ballot paper, though nor were they expressly in favour. The Green Party did not disagree with the principle but had objections to the specific proposal—they went on to comment negatively on the placing of the regional list on the left side of the paper.
|
| 8 Aug 2006 | Submission to Ministers following the close of the single ballot paper consultation.
| The submission's first recommendation to Ministers is to "proceed with a single ballot paper for the Scottish Parliamentary regional and constituency elections".
Recommendations were provided on the basis of the findings of the Arbuthnott Commission, the broad political support indicated by the consultation responses, and the voter research undertaken on the behalf of the Electoral Commission.
|
| 9 Aug 2006 | Press release from Electoral Commission strongly supporting the use of a single ballot paper.
| The press release notes that "the overwhelming majority of respondents (87%) supported a ballot paper that incorporates both the constituency and regional votes on a single page".
|
| 31 Aug 2006 | Ministers ask officials to ask DRS for more details about the feasibility of the corresponding order design.
| Meeting between Ministers and officials. Under discussion was the idea of aligning parties and candidates across the two ballot papers on the single page ("corresponding order"), in the light of concerns expressed by DRS in terms of technical feasibility.
|
| 11 Sept 2006 | Contingencies about the ballot paper design are discussed by the E-counting project board in the event of there being a large number of candidates.
| DRS informed the meeting that the A3 size ballot paper was still under consideration and that contingencies were in hand.
|
| 2 Oct 2006 | Letter received from DRS to Head of Scotland Office stating that "there is a very high risk of failure if we proceed to implement the changes you want [to align parties and candidates] at this stage. As indicated, if we are requested to do so we would need from you an indemnity against failure of the system".
| |
| 4 Oct 2006 | Submission from Head of Office, appending letter from DRS. Submission states that "I believe that we have pressed DRS as hard as we can on this issue [aligning parties and candidates]. I also believe that we cannot countenance a public indemnity [as requested by DRS]". Following this submission, Ministers decide not to go ahead with corresponding order design.
| |
| 16-17 Oct 2006 | Further testing of e-counting by DRS on behalf of Returning Officers, including bulk test of combined constituency and regional ballot paper.
| A total of 112,000 Scottish Parliamentary and local government ballot papers counted by e-counting machines in the presence of representatives of thirty one local authorities. The test was well received with practical issues raised (such as the question of a manual rummage of ballot boxes) being taken forward by DRS and officials from the Scottish Executive and the Scotland Office.
|
| 24 Oct 2006 | First Minister reaffirms his support for a combined paper with the regional list on the left and the constituency list on the right in phone call with Secretary of State.
| Phone call takes place in the light of the decision not to press forward with the corresponding order design.
|
| 25 Oct 2006 | Meeting between Secretary of State and Parliamentary Under-Secretary.
| Secretary of State confirms decision to use a single ballot paper.
|
| 9 Nov 2006 | E-counting project board further discussed contingencies.
| A3 ballot paper still being identified as the main option.
|
| 22 Nov 2006 | Scotland Office press release announced single ballot paper for Scottish Parliament elections.
| |
| 12 Dec 2006 | E-counting project board meeting during which DRS say they are unable to provide A3 ballot paper as a contingency.
| A number of alternative contingency arrangements are discussed by the board.
|
| 19 Jan 2007 | Elections steering group meeting agrees that a small group be set up to discuss ballot paper contingencies, facilitated by the Scotland Office.
| |
| 25 Jan 2007 | Meeting held with key parties at official level to discuss contingency options.
| Scotland Office, Scottish Executive, Electoral Commission and Edinburgh Council Depute Returning Officer attend. Contingency options are agreed—all include arrows above voting columns. Scotland Office offer to pursue with DRS on behalf of the group.
|
| 12 Feb 2007 | DRS provide officials with proof copy of contingency paper for up to 21 candidates, which is circulated to those at the 25 January meeting. This has arrows missing from instructions.
| Followed up same day by Scotland Office officials who query whether arrows can be re-inserted.
|
| 26 Feb 2007 | DRS confirm not possible to reinsert arrows without impacting on number of candidates the paper would support.
| Further discussion with project board members.
Issue not referred to Ministers as the contingency design was within the statutory requirements and the decisions on whether to use the contingency ballot paper and whether to move to a manual count were both the statutory responsibility of Returning Officers.
|
| March-early April 2007 | User Acceptance Testing of contingency ballot papers and 32 e-counting user agreements signed by Scotland Office Head of Finance, Scottish Executive Procurement Advisor, DRS and individual Returning Officers.
| Every Returning Officer in Scotland individually signs own User Agreement with DRS.
|
| 4 April 2007 | E-counting project board meeting further discussed contingency arrangements.
| Additional contingency paper to accommodate up to 24 candidates agreed following early indication that candidates in Lothian region would exceed the 21 previously catered for. Each style of paper (designed to accommodate up to 19, 21 or 24 candidates) successfully completed testing.
|
| 11 April 2007 | Nominations close: Lothians and Glasgow regions have more than 21 candidates and choose to use the contingency ballot paper in order to proceed with e-count.
| Final decision taken by relevant Returning Officers on whether to use contingency ballot paper discussed at E-Counting Project Board or to opt instead for a ballot paper necessitating a manual count—an option which was allowed under the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc) Order 2007. Both Returning Officers chose to use the contingency paper.
|
