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Lord Glentoran: I again thank the noble and learned Lord for that most helpful answer. Without wishing to cast any aspersions that I am not taking his comments at face value, or that there is anything else at issue, I should like to take the amendment away at this stage and discuss it with others as regards using regulation rather than legislation. Is it possible for the regulation to be published before Report or Third Reading of the Bill?
Lord Williams of Mostyn: I promise to use my best endeavours. I cannot guarantee, of course, that the process of drafting will be complete, but I shall certainly do my very best to bring that about.
Lord Glentoran: I thank the noble and learned Lord for that reply. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 3 [Absent votes and declarations of identity]:
Lord Glentoran moved Amendment No. 8:
- Page 3, line 32, after "application" insert "is made on a form supplied by the Chief Electoral Office for Northern Ireland containing such marking or coding as he may determine and"
The noble Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 8, I wish to speak also to Amendment No. 10. Both amendments concern absentee voting. That has also been a well used method of creating an artificially high vote by those skilled in these matters. Indeed, I believe that it was said at Second Reading that one party arrived at the electoral officer's desk 24 hours before the election with 10,000 papers for absentee voting. I do not need to say which party was involved but, of course, it was quite impossible for them to be administered.
These amendments suggest that absentee voting should take place only on a form supplied by the electoral officer and that it should be coded and so become traceable. It does not necessarily have to be traced to determine what the vote was, but it should at least be traceable to the party that collected and used it. I believe that this issue represents one of the biggest holes in the Bill still left to be filled. I beg to move.
Lord Molyneaux of Killead: Very briefly, with those qualifications and what I regard as a strengthening of the position, I support the amendment. I do so because I may have a guilty conscience. I was mainly responsible for arguing that citizens in Northern Ireland should have postal votes for absentee voting. When that system was extended to Great Britain, the Home Office, under previous management, decided that the citizens of Northern Ireland should be deprived of it. Fortunately, I persisted and, in the end, won the battle. But I realise that in that little victory I may have left a few doors open.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Again, I do not believe that there is much difference here between my own approach and that of the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran. I do not consider it necessary to insist on the form proposed in Amendment No. 8 because that would mean that only an original form provided by the CEO could be used.
I can tell the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, about the coding aspect. The Chief Electoral Officer already has plans to take administrative measures to ensure that applications for an absent vote are given a unique identifier. I agree with his caution: one must be careful to ensure that it is not possible to identify the way in which a citizen has voted in a secret ballot. The Chief
Electoral Officer plans to introduce either a serial number or a bar code. As he is already going to do that, we do not need to legislate for it.The reason that I am cautious about the original form is that there may be some circumstances in which a photocopy may be necessary. The coding would still be on it. Therefore, I believe that the coding or the identifier is more important than the fact that the form is the original. On that basis, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw the amendment because I hope that we have met his purpose.
Lord Glentoran: I thank the noble and learned Lord. We are certainly both going down the same road. Of course, as the noble and learned Lord knows, as I understand it at present the forms can be produced by any or all parties and they are totally uncontrolled. If, in the Bill, the Government are able to get the application forms for absentee voting under control, I shall be most grateful. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 9 and 10 not moved.]
Clause 4 [Electoral identity card]:
Lord Smith of Clifton moved Amendment No. 11:
- Page 5, line 12, at end insert—
The noble Lord said: Perhaps the noble and learned Lord can assure me that this matter will be looked at. The amendment simply proposes a technical improvement—one that may well already be envisaged by those who are drawing up the specification for the identity card. But the reason for tabling the amendment is to ensure that such a technical improvement can be made. If the Minister can assure me that the matter will be considered between now and Report, I shall be happy to withdraw the amendment.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: I can certainly assure the noble Lord that we are looking at this issue. One problem is that at this stage an electronic chip such as that proposed in the amendment has a relatively short life expectancy—only about five years. At present we have no plans to introduce electronic voting. I believe that the true concern of the noble Lord, Lord Smith, relates to a situation in which a card might be used not only for identification purposes, as is its present purpose.
If we were to move to electronic voting—not in your Lordships' House but in Northern Ireland—then of course the electronic chip might well be needed. At present I do not believe that it is needed. In any event, the technology is time-limited to approximately five years and is also rather expensive. Since it is to be used as an identifying document rather than for electronic voting, that is the present state of the Government's thinking. I hope that that is helpful.
Lord Smith of Clifton: It is helpful. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Lord Glentoran moved Amendment No. 12:
The noble Lord said: This amendment has two purposes, one of which I have discussed with the noble and learned Lord and I know that he is not anxious to include it in the legislation. But at this stage we would still like to see it included. It is possible that I am dealing with the second point first, but the amendment seeks to ensure that the application date is in place before the May 2003 elections take place in Northern Ireland.
Secondly—this is perhaps the more substantive part—the amendment seeks to ensure that all would-be electors are in possession of photographic evidence as to their identity. That matter is referred to in paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes to the Bill as follows:
For those who live in England or outside Northern Ireland, that may sound rather a tall order. But for many years in Northern Ireland we have had photographic identification of every shape and size. If one moved around the Province during the days of terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s and wanted to pass reasonably peacefully through police and Army blocks or one sort and another, one had to have readily available identification which included a photograph of some kind. That was the case, for example, in respect of our driving licences.
The purpose of the amendment, about which we feel strongly, is to require a full photographic "kit", for want of a better word, to be in place before the May 2003 elections. Without it, we would still be on fairly weak ground in relation to identification at polling
"(4A) The information contained in subsection (4)(a) to (d) above shall also be stored electronically on a computer chip incorporated into the electoral identity card provided for by this section.".
After Clause 4, insert the following new clause—
"VOTERS: SPECIFIED DOCUMENTS
(1) From 1st May 2003, paragraph (1E) of rule 37 of the parliamentary election rules applicable to election in Northern Ireland, imported into Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) by section 1(2) of the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985 (c. 2), is amended in accordance with subsection (2).
(2) For sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) there is substituted—
"(a) the plastic photographic card which is, or forms the counterpart of, a current licence to drive a motor vehicle;
(b) a current passport issued by the Government of the United Kingdom or by the Republic of Ireland;
(c) a senior citizen's concessionary fare pass issued by the Northern Ireland Department of Regional Government;
(d) a current electoral identity card issued under section 13C of this Act."".
"The electoral-ID card proposed by this Bill will be added to the list of specified documents. In due course it is proposed to replace all the non-photographic ID on the list of specified documents (though the Bill makes no provision to this effect). Thereafter the electoral-ID card, the passport and the driving licence would be the only ID acceptable at the polling station. No one will be disenfranchised until they have had every reasonable opportunity to acquire photographic ID".
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