Modern voting methods extended to European elections.

M2 PRESSWIRE-17 September 2003-UK Government: Modern voting methods extended to European elections(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:09172003

Measures to allow piloting of innovative voting methods at next year's European Parliamentary elections were unveiled today in legislation aimed at improving voter access and convenience. The European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill also provides for pilots at local elections where these take place on the same day as elections for the European Parliament. Subject to an order by the Secretary of State, it is expected that the European Parliamentary elections will occur on 10th June 2004.

The Government hopes to pilot all-postal voting in up to three regions. In addition, one of these regions may also be suitable for piloting internet or telephone voting. The Government has asked the Electoral Commission to recommend where next year's all-postal voting pilots should take place, and where an electronic element could be included. The Commission will begin its consultation shortly and has been asked to report on Monday 8th December 2003.

To address any implementation issues, the Government has launched a nine week public consultation to seek comments from local authorities and other interested parties about the proposals.

This year's local election pilots were popular and successful, with turnout in all-postal ballots running at nearly 50% compared with the average of just over 33% across England. The Electoral Commission published a strategic report on the pilots in July and the Government is publishing its formal response to this document today. Overall, the Government welcomes the recommendations made by the Commission and, in particular, now intends:

-- To consult on making all-postal ballots the normal method of voting at local elections.

-- To promote further e-voting pilots on a larger scale to better assess their value for money.

-- To adopt several other electoral innovations for local elections, including barcodes and new types of security marks on ballot papers and electronic counting.

Christopher Leslie, Minister at the Department for Constitutional Affairs said: "The Bill introduced today will allow important pilots of innovative voting methods to continue at local government elections and to take place at European Parliamentary elections for the first time.

"It is both a continuation and an extension of our policy to modernise the electoral system and make voting more convenient and accessible to all. Previous pilots at local elections have been very successful and this Bill represents a significant scaling up of the programme to make voting easier and more practical." Nick Raynsford, Local Government Minister, added: "I was very pleased by the successful outcome of the pilots held at the local elections this year, and that the Electoral Commission's strategic report recognises this result. It is very important that we can maintain the momentum that has built up from these successful pilots in 2004, so I welcome the introduction of the Bill today. I fully expect that pilots at the European elections will boost the level of democratic involvement, just as they have at a local level."

Notes to Editors

1. Under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000, local authorities in England and Wales are able to submit a proposal to the Secretary of State to run pilot schemes of innovative electoral procedures at local government elections. Section 10 was couched in broad terms to cover various innovative voting methods.

2. Since 2000, the Government, in partnership with the independent Electoral Commission, Local Government Association and local authorities, has been promoting a successful programme of pilot schemes, encompassing all-postal and electronic voting, electronic counting, and other electoral innovations.

3. In 2003, 59 pilot schemes were held across 61 local authorities, covering more than 6.4million electors. Average turnout in the 33 all-postal elections was 49.4%. In the 17 e-voting areas, more than a quarter of all voters was cast electronically. All the pilot elections successfully delivered an election result.

4. The Electoral Commission has a statutory duty to evaluate every pilot. It also produces an annual strategic review. These reports are available at http://www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/about-us/publications.cfm. The Government published its formal response today.

5. This year's strategic report recommended that all-postal voting should become the normal method of voting at local elections. It also recommended that a number of administrative innovations, such as barcodes and watermarks on ballot papers, and electronic counting should be made available for use at any local election. It said that e-voting methods should be piloted further, particularly the Internet and touch-tone telephone channels.

6. The Government is keen to maintain the momentum built up in the local election pilots, and to scale up their size. However, there are no legislative provisions for piloting of innovative voting in relation to European Parliamentary elections. The Bill is intended to fill that gap, for the elections planned for June 2004 only, by allowing the Secretary of State to order pilot schemes in the combined and European elections.

7. The Bill will not specify the regions to hold the pilots, but will explicitly rule out consideration of London, and whichever European Parliamentary electoral region is to include Gibraltar (the Electoral Commission has recommended the South West. The Government is considering its response). The Bill will not extend to Northern Ireland.

8. There are nine European Parliamentary electoral regions in England, and one each covering each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regions are coterminous with the local authority districts and councils, i.e. the boundaries of the European regions align with and do not cross the boundaries of the local government regions.

9. The UK turnout at 1999's European Parliamentary general election was 24%

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