Electoral Commission Report (May Elections)
Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)
(Representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission): The Electoral Commission has today published its report on the European parliamentary elections in the UK and the local government elections in England and Northern Ireland that took place on 22 May 2014.
The Commission reports that overall the elections were well run and there were high levels of voter confidence in the administration of the elections. Nearly nine in 10 voters surveyed (88%) were confident that the elections were well run, and nearly all were satisfied with their experience of voting, whether in person or by post, reflecting positively on the work of local authority returning officers and their staff.
In the run-up to the elections, the Commission worked closely with both returning officers and the police in those local authorities it had identified as being at greater risk of allegations of electoral fraud, to ensure appropriate measures were put in place to prevent and detect it. The Commission reports that, across the UK as a whole, there have been fewer allegations of electoral fraud than at previous polls, and where allegations have arisen the Commission is confident that the police have taken swift and robust action to investigate them.
These elections were the first time that the Commission’s new performance standards framework for returning officers was used at a set of polls. As part of the framework, the Commission monitored the work being undertaken by regional returning officers and a principally risk-based sample of local returning officers in Great Britain to plan for and deliver the polls.
There were a small number of instances where the Commission intervened to recommend minor improvements. However, there were two issues with the printing of election stationery which led the Commission to conclude that the returning officers at Reading borough council and Reigate and Banstead borough council did not fully meet its performance standards.
Despite the high levels of voter confidence overall, the Commission’s report sets out some problems that occurred during the elections.
There were concerns about delays affecting the election count in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The Commission reported separately on these problems ahead of the countermanded poll held in one of the wards in the borough on Thursday 3 July. The Commission was pleased to see that the returning officer has already started to take forward its recommendations.
More broadly in Tower Hamlets, there were concerns raised about campaigners outside polling stations, where some voters felt intimidated by the presence of campaigners and what they felt were aggressive appeals for them to vote for particular candidates.
In other areas of the UK some voters at the elections were not able to vote by post because of the way campaigners handled postal vote applications. The Commission believes that campaigners should not handle completed postal vote application forms or postal ballot packs and will be consulting political parties over the coming months to seek their agreement to a revised voluntary code of conduct for campaigners by November this year, in time for the May 2015 UK parliamentary general election.
The Commission’s report also notes issues with party descriptions on ballot papers at the elections. Candidates standing for political parties and the parties themselves are allowed to use these descriptions on ballot papers, provided the Electoral Commission has registered the description. In the light of the issues highlighted in the report, the Commission now wants the Government to consider the case for changing the current rules, with a view to reducing the risk of voter confusion.
The report makes a number of recommendations for changes which will be an important part of preparing for the May 2015 UK parliamentary general election and for the next European parliamentary elections in 2019. But there will be a range of other preparations that the Commission will want to see in place well before May 2015. The Commission will make these clear over the next few months as it issues further guidance and advice for returning officers, electoral registration officers and their staff; and for political parties, candidates and others who plan to campaign.
Copies of the Commission’s report have been placed in the Library and it is also available on its website at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk.