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Following our interim report on voter engagement, which we published in November 2014, and the substantial public consultation we ran subsequently, we have now brought forward our final report on reengaging the public with elections in the UK.
Our key recommendations are:
· That the Government bring forward plans to target those groups—including young people, British citizens living overseas and people with disabilities—who are currently least likely to be registered to vote.
· That the Government consider improvements to electoral registration—including making registration automatic, prompting people to register to vote when they access other public services, and registering young people in schools, colleges and universities.
· That changes to electoral arrangements—including online voting, registering closer to or on Election Day and holding elections at the weekend—be piloted in the next Parliament with a view to making permanent changes to electoral arrangements ahead of the 2020 general election.
We recognise that the main reasons for low levels of voter engagement are political, and serious action needs to be taken by political parties, individual politicians and the Government to engage more effectively with the public, and convince them of the value of voting if the public is to be re-engaged not just with elections, but politics more broadly.
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