8th Report, 2008 (Session 3)

Elections 2007

CONTENTS

Remit and membership

Report
Introduction

Background
Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry
Other inquiries and studies
Scottish Parliament debate

Consideration of evidence

Legislation
Roles, relationships and accountability
Planning and timing
Combined elections
Ballot papers and voting issues
Ballot papers
Postal ballot papers and packs
Ballot boxes, security and secrecy
Public information
The count

Equalities
Next steps

Electoral Commission
Scottish Government

Summary of conclusions and recommendations

Annexe A
Relevant legislation for 2007 local government and Parliamentary elections

Annexe B
Extracts from Minutes of the Local Government and Communities Committee

Annexe C
Official report of Committee meeting 7 November 2007

Annexe D Oral evidence and associated written evidence
Ron Gould 10th Meeting 2007 (2003) Wednesday 21 November 2007
Electoral Commision 12th Meeting 2007 (2003) Wednesday 5 December 2007
Bruce Crawford, Minister for Parliamentary Business 10th Meeting 2007 (2003) Wednesday 21 November 2007

Annexe E
Supplementary evidence

Remit and membership

Remit:

To consider and report on (a) the financing and delivery of local government and local services and planning; and (b) housing, regeneration, anti-poverty measures and other matters (apart from sport) falling within the responsibility of the Minister for Communities and Sport.

Membership:

Alasdair Allan
Bob Doris
Patricia Ferguson
Kenneth Gibson (Deputy Convener)
Johann Lamont
David McLetchie
Duncan McNeil (Convener)
Jim Tolson

Committee Clerking Team:

Clerk to the Committee
Martin Verity

Senior Assistant Clerk
Jane-Claire Judson

Assistant Clerk
Ian Cowan

Committee Assistant
Fiona Sinclair

Elections 2007

The Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—

introduction

Background

1. Local government elections were held in Scotland on 3 May 2007, on the same day as the Scottish Parliament election.

2. In elections to the parliament, voters elect 129 MSPs using the Additional Member System (AMS). One MSP is elected for each of Scotland’s 73 constituencies, using the first-past-the-post system. The constituencies are grouped into eight regions, each of which elects an additional seven members, using a formula that is designed to ensure that the overall share of seats each political party receives broadly reflects its level of support among voters.

3. For the elections to Scotland’s 32 local authorities, the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system was used for the first time.

4. The parliamentary election in 2007 required voters to complete two ballot papers on a single sheet, by marking each ballot paper with a cross. The ballot paper, on the left of the sheet, was for a regional member. The ballot paper on the right of the sheet was for a constituency member.

5. Each local election required voters to complete one ballot paper on a single sheet, by ranking candidates in order of preference by numbers.

6. Electronic counting was used for the first time for both elections.

7. In the parliamentary election there were 4,205,262 votes cast, of which 146,097 (3.47%) were rejected ballots. In the constituency vote there were 2,102,631 votes cast, of which 85,643 (4.07%) were rejected ballots. In the regional vote there were 2,102,631 votes cast, of which 60,454 (2.88%) were rejected ballots.

8. The term ‘rejected ballot’ refers to a ballot paper that cannot be counted for one or more of a range of reasons. These are: the ballot does not have an official mark; the voter has cast more votes than they are entitled to (termed ‘over-voting’); the voter has made writing or marks by which they can be identified; the voter has left the ballot paper blank or has marked it in such a way that it is not clear for whom they intended to vote.

9. As set out in paragraph 7, rejected ballots in the constituency vote were 4.07% of the constituency votes cast. In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, the comparable figure was 0.64% and in the 1999 election it was 0.33%.

10. Rejected ballots in the regional vote were 2.88% of the regional votes cast. In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, the comparable figure was 0.62% and in the 1999 election it was 0.31%.

11. In the 2007 local government elections, there were 2,072,530 votes cast, of which 38,319 (1.85%) were rejected ballots. The rate of rejected ballots varied from 1.11% in East Dunbartonshire to 2.77% in West Dunbartonshire.

12. In the 2003 local government elections, the proportion of rejected ballots was 0.77% (14,579 rejected ballots). In the 1999 local government elections, the proportion of rejected ballots was 0.59% (13,597 rejected ballots). STV was not used for either of these elections.

13. The level of rejected ballots in the 2007 local government elections was significantly lower than in the Scottish Parliament election on the same day. Nevertheless it was significantly higher than it was in the local government elections held in 2003 and 1999.

14. It is important that the high level of rejected ballots in the parliamentary election should not eclipse the issue of the high level of rejected ballots in the local government elections.

15. The Committee notes with concern that approximately 30,000 fewer people voted in the 2007 local government elections than in the parliamentary election, despite them being held simultaneously.

16. In the light of the controversy that arose from the high level of rejected ballots in the 2007 elections, the Electoral Commission, which reports on the administration of elections, engaged Ron Gould CM, an international expert on electoral administration, to conduct an independent review. The Commission published his report on 23 October 2007¹ and its own response to the Gould report on 29November 2007².

17. In order to facilitate a review of the rejected ballot papers, orders were passed in the UK and the Scottish parliaments to enable the Gould review to access the electronic images of the face of ballot papers in the parliamentary and the local government elections respectively.³

Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry

18. The remit of the Local Government and Communities Committee is to consider and report on (a) the financing and delivery of local government and local services and planning; and (b) housing, regeneration, anti-poverty measures and other matters (apart from sport) falling within the responsibility of the Minister for Communities and Sport.

19. Given the significance of the Gould report and the importance of those sections that are relevant to its remit, the Committee, at its meeting of7November 2007, agreed to take oral evidence on the content of the report and to consider its recommendations in relation to their impact on local government elections.

20. The remit of the Committee covers local government elections, but most of the sections of the Gould report are inevitably relevant both to the Scottish Parliament election and to the local government elections. There is, therefore, a considerable cross-over between the Committee’s inquiry and many of the studies and inquiries referred to below.

21. Evidence was taken by the Committee by video-conference from Ron Gould on 21 November 2007. The Committee is grateful to the University of Ottawa for facilitating the video-conference arrangements. Oral evidence was taken on 5December 2007 from Sir Neil McIntosh CBE, Commissioner, Peter Wardle, Chief Executive and Andy O’Neill, Head of Office, Scotland, of the Electoral Commission.

22. The Committee took oral evidence from Bruce Crawford MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business, Gerald Byrne, Head of Constitution Unit and Andy Sinclair, Senior Policy Officer, Scottish Government, at its meeting of 14May2008. The Committee appreciates the time given by the witnesses who provided oral evidence to the inquiry.

23. The Committee was very disappointed that DRS Data Services, the company which provided electronic equipment for counting ballot papers, did not accept an invitation to give oral evidence. Its experience would have been valuable to the Committee, particularly in relation to electronic counting and the procedures associated with the counting of ballots. The Committee would have required the company to attend to provide evidence if it had been empowered to do so under Section 23 of the Scotland Act 1998.

24. DRS Data Services supplied written information. Ron Gould responded to this submission via the Electoral Commission. Written evidence was also submitted, on his own behalf, by Dr James Gilmour, who is a member of the Electoral Reform Society and the Fairshare Voting Reform Campaign Committee. The Committee is grateful for all the written evidence submitted.

25. The Official Report of the Committee’s proceedings, and the written evidence submitted, are attached as annexes to this report.

Other inquiries and studies

26. The high level of rejected ballots, particularly in the parliamentary election, gave rise to a number of inquiries and studies.

27. On 13 December 2007, the Scotland Office issued a consultation paper, Sorting the Ballot⁴, which sought views on a number of recommendations in the Gould report focussing on the conduct of the Scottish Parliament elections, for which the Scotland Office has responsibility.

28. The Scottish Government published its response to the Gould report on 19March 2008⁵. Its conclusions are referred to extensively in the remainder of this report.

29 .Two Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) briefings have been published: Election 2007, published on 8 May 2007, and Rejected Ballot Papers, published on 26 June 2007⁶. The latter publication provides an analysis of rejected ballot papers for both elections.

30. The Electoral Reform Society published a report and analysis Local authority elections in Scotland in November 2007⁷. Sections of the report focus on whether electors recorded valid votes, ballot design and multi-member wards.

31. Although not directly related to the Scottish elections held in 2007, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, in April 2008, published a report on electoral processes and procedures throughout the UK⁸. The report expresses concern about how well UK election procedures measure up to international standards. Its key findings include: concern that greater use of postal voting may make UK elections vulnerable to fraud; concern about the comprehensiveness and accuracy of electoral registers; risk that systems of electoral administration may have reached breaking point as a result of pressures imposed in recent years; and that the benefits of postal and electronic voting may have been exaggerated.

32. The Scottish Affairs Committee of the House of Commons conducted an inquiry into the experience of the 2007 elections, focussing primarily on the Scottish Parliament elections. Its report was published on 18 May 2008.⁹

Scottish Parliament debate

33. On 10 January 2008 the Scottish Parliament debated the findings of the Gould report and voted in favour of transferring jurisdiction for Scottish Parliament elections to Scotland and decoupling local government elections from Scottish Parliament elections, so that they are not held on the same day. The Parliament resolved:

That the Parliament welcomes the Gould report, including the recommendation calling for the further devolution of executive and legislative powers to the Scottish Government and the Parliament for the administration of its own elections and the decoupling of future elections to this Parliament and Scotland's councils; calls on Her Majesty's Government and the Scottish Government to discuss, agree and publish a timetable for appropriate implementation of the report's recommendations having regard to the conclusions from both the Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee and the House of Commons' Scottish Affairs Committee.

Consideration of evidence

The remainder of this part of the report considers the issues raised by the Gould report. In each section, this report reviews the recommendations of the Gould report, the evidence taken, the Scottish Government’s response and the conclusions and recommendations, where appropriate, of the Committee.

Legislation

Gould report recommendations

35. The Gould report recommended that:

• In the context of electoral processes, exploratory discussions take place with a view to assigning responsibility for both elections to one jurisdictional entity. The Scottish Government would be the logical institution.

• A major initiative should be undertaken to rationalise and consolidate the existing legislation as it relates to these elections, ensuring that the respective electoral provisions of the laws are as compatible as possible and that they focus on electoral policy rather than micro-management of the elections.

• New electoral legislation should not be applied to any election held within six months of the new provision coming into force.

Evidence

36. Ron Gould argued that electoral legislation required to be rationalised. He did not take a position on whether responsibility for electoral legislation should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament or reserved to the UK Parliament. He considered that the electoral process could work with a unified operational structure whether the legislative framework is devolved or reserved.

37. A table, taken from the Gould report, on the relevant legislation for the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections is attached as Annexe A

38. The Electoral Commission did not have a position on whether electoral legislation should be devolved or reserved. It considered that electoral legislation in both Scotland and the UK more generally needs to be overhauled. It agreed that implementation of the Gould recommendations in Scotland should not be dependent on waiting for wider UK change to take place.

Scottish Government response

39. The Scottish Government believed that the recommendation that responsibility for both elections should be assigned to one jurisdictional entity was fundamental to the overall conclusion of the Gould report. It agreed that radical reform of the system is required to reduce the risk of similar operational difficulties arising in the future.

40. The Scottish Government therefore concluded that the Gould report provided an opportunity to address the fundamental managerial and legislative problems that Gould identified, and that these must be addressed by creating a coherent and unified organisation based in Scotland, clearly accountable to Scottish Ministers, Parliament and people, working under a legal framework set in Scotland, in line with the principles of devolution.

41. The Scottish Government said that it plans to examine the existing legislation and the scope for consolidation both within current legislative competence, and with extended competence, to produce a timetable for consolidation of both primary and secondary legislation relating to elections.

42. The Scottish Government intends to ensure that any future legislation relating to elections is enacted at least six months ahead of the date of elections and that any legislation introduced within that six-month period does not apply until after the date of the election.

43. In his oral evidence, the Minister for Parliamentary Business, Bruce Crawford MSP, said that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament supported Ron Gould’s recommendation that legislative and administrative responsibilities for elections to the Scottish Parliament should be transferred to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. He told the Committee that, so far, the UK Government was not persuaded of the case for a change. The UK Government had completed its consultation on these matters and its formal response was awaited. The Scottish Government would need to be advised of the UK Government’s formal response by September 2008 in order to make any necessary arrangements for the 2011 elections.

Committee views

44. The Committee, having regard to the oral and written evidence which it received, endorses the resolution of the Scottish Parliament in relation to the Gould report.

Roles, relationships and accountability

Gould report recommendations

45. The Gould report recommended that:

• A chief returning officer (CRO) for Scotland be established.

• Returning officer positions in each constituency be professionalised by introducing a selection process based on common criteria and standards and by establishing returning officer positions on a full-time basis from the call of an election until all required activities are completed.

• The present positions of regional, constituency and local returning officers should be combined with the new returning officer position, as applicable. Consideration should be given as to what other election-related responsibilities could fit within the returning officer’s portfolio, such as that of voter registration.

• The role of the Electoral Commission and other stakeholders be rationalised in relation to the proposed CRO for Scotland.

• A process be put in place to assess the relationship of the CRO with the Ministers’ offices in the UK and Scottish parliaments.

• All operational roles should become the responsibility of the CRO, with the Electoral Commission continuing to carry out its advisory role.

Evidence

46. Ron Gould considered that there should be a unified structure for managing the operation of elections with a single CRO for Scotland. This would allow for greater accountability than exists at present. In addition, returning officers should be more professionalised. He suggested that if returning officers’ functions were expanded to include all electoral functions (including work of the registration officer, responsibility for polling stations etc.) there would be a strong case for having a full time returning officer within each local authority.

47. The Electoral Commission agreed that more co-ordination was needed but it also emphasised the need to address fragmentation across the UK as a whole. It suggested that having a single CRO for Scotland would provide one means of addressing the issue. It indicated that it would like the cost effectiveness of separating a nationally administered role from national or regional levels throughout the UK to be investigated. For the commission the proposal gives rise to questions about how it will apply across the UK as a whole.

48. The Scottish Government wrote to the Committee about arrangements in Northern Ireland, in response to a question to the Minister for Parliament during his oral evidence. A copy of this letter is included in Annexe E. The Committee notes that there is a chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland who is the electoral registration officer and the returning officer for all 18 Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland. He is also the returning officer for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly and for elections to the 26 District Councils in Northern Ireland. This appears to be a well-established model for which Westminster retains full legislative responsibility and appears to enjoy the confidence of all sections of the community in relation to the integrity of elections.

Scottish Government response

49. The Scottish Government believed that an integrated approach to management, accountability and legislation would provide the Scottish people with the best reassurance that the problems identified by Gould would not recur. It would provide the most practical way of running future parliamentary and local elections.

50 .The Scottish Government said that it will work closely with stakeholders, including the UK Government, with a view to publishing a detailed consultation paper later this year on the creation of a CRO for Scotland.

51. The role and professionalisation of returning officers will be reviewed by the Scottish Government in the context of the proposed establishment of a CRO post and the responsibilities that would be assumed by the CRO.

52. The Minister for Parliamentary Business, in his oral evidence, said that he would welcome discussion on whether a CRO should be created in Scotland. If such a post were established, the Minister was not persuaded that it would necessarily be a non-departmental public body as it is in Northern Ireland. He said that the CRO might chair the Elections Steering Group which would act as a conduit between stakeholders and the CRO.

Committee views

53. The Committee agrees that a chief returning officer post for Scotland should be established in order to secure a co-ordinated and unified approach to elections held in Scotland. There should be consultation with local authorities and returning officers on how such a post would work with existing returning officers and on whether there is a need for full-time returning officers in local authorities.

54. The Committee recommends that further investigation of the Northern Ireland model be carried out with a view to considering whether it could be appropriate for Scotland.

Planning and timing

55. The Gould report noted that the 2007 Elections Steering Group, which co-ordinated the 2007 elections, comprised representatives from the Scottish Executive (acting as Chair), the Scotland Office, the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), the Society of Local Authority Lawyers (SOLAR), the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), COSLA and the Scottish Assessors Association (SAA).

Gould report recommendations

56. The Gould report recommended that:

• A future elections steering group should be strengthened and tasked with the function of providing integrated election plans and timetables. The Steering Group should be charged with the development of contingency plans directly related to the timelines in the electoral calendar.

Scottish Government response

57. The Scottish Government said that the Elections Steering Group played a vital role in the run up to the elections last May. The Scottish Government therefore welcomed the above recommendation and has reconvened the Elections Steering Group with a view to discussing the wider implications of the Gould Report, and how best to take forward specific recommendations.

Committee views

58. The Committee expects to have a scrutiny role in regard to the work of the Elections Steering Group and a chief returning officer, if appointed. It anticipates that it would take evidence from them on their work from time to time.

Combined elections

Gould report recommendations

59. The Gould report recommended that:

• The Scottish parliamentary and local government elections be separated, preferably by a period of about two years.

Evidence

60. Ron Gould said that if the aim is for local elections to be given due recognition, they should be decoupled from the Scottish Parliament election, otherwise the Scottish Parliament election will dominate. Decoupling would also minimise the complexity of organising elections with the result that many of the problems that arose in May 2007 could have been avoided.

61. The Electoral Commission accepted there was a strong case for decoupling. It indicated that the Commission would probably be in favour of elections to be decoupled. It considered that a five year term for local government would be consistent with the recommendations of the McIntosh¹⁰ and Arbuthnott¹¹ Commissions.

62. Dr James Gilmour (writing in his own capacity) suggested that evidence from Northern Ireland indicated that the rate of rejected ballots increased when elections that required different voting systems were held on the same day.

Scottish Government response

63. The Scottish Government, in its written response, noted that during the debate on the Gould report in the Scottish Parliament there was majority support across the Parliament in favour of decoupling the elections.

64. It said that it now plans to take steps to implement the decoupling of the parliamentary and local elections and ensure that the necessary legislation is in place well in advance of the next scheduled election. The Scottish Government aims to conduct consultations with a view to introducing legislation in 2009.

65. In his oral evidence, the Minister for Parliamentary Business informed the Committee of the consultations that had been undertaken on the issue of decoupling elections. Members of the Committee felt that more direct involvement with voters, for example on the question of the dangers of “voter fatigue” when elections were held too frequently, would have been beneficial. The Minister said that he would consider whether there were ways to strengthen the basis of decision making, although he pointed out that the Parliament had already stated its preferred direction of travel.

Committee views

66. The evidence taken by the Committee supports the view that decoupling local government elections from national elections would enable attention to be focussed more effectively on local issues. There would be additional organisational and administrative benefits as a consequence of less complex arrangements being required. The Committee endorses the decision of the Parliament that the elections to the Parliament and to local councils in Scotland should be decoupled.

67. The Committee is concerned that there should be effective consultation, engagement with the electorate and research and public information programmes if the danger of lower turnout is to be avoided. In moving towards decoupling of elections, more work needs to be done in these areas. The Committee looks forward to working with the Scottish Government in discussing effective ways of increasing voter participation in the electoral process.

68. If elections are to be decoupled, the Committee recommends that the date of the next local elections should be determined by extending this current local government electoral term and the next term to five years each, until the local elections are approximately equidistant from the Scottish Parliament elections. Local elections should thereafter revert to a four year cycle.

Ballot papers and voting issues

Gould report recommendations

69. The Gould report recommended that:

• The strengthened Elections Steering Group, working closely with returning officers, examine a number of options (to be put forward by the CRO) related to the ballot papers used for the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections.

• Advance voting at the office of the returning officer and in shopping centres be looked at as ways to increase turnout. It should also be recognised that declining turnout is a problem internationally.

• Initiatives in other countries – where there have been significant increases in advance voting while turnout at polling stations has diminished –be explored.

Evidence

70. Ron Gould suggested that the Scottish Parliament ballot seemed to be better understood than the local government ballot although the rejection rate for local government elections was lower. He suggested that more voter education and information was needed in order to ensure that voters took full opportunity to participate in the local government elections.

71. He accepted that some of the ballots for the local elections would have been marked with an “X” or with only one number. In such cases, the voter may have intentionally voted for one candidate only, or may not have realised that a number of candidates could have been voted for, in order of preference. These papers would have been counted as valid votes and therefore not included in the analysis of rejected ballots.

72. The Electoral Commission noted that the rejection rate was broadly the same as that in Northern Ireland. However, it accepted that multiple Xs had been used by voters in some cases and that the issue of voter information needs to be addressed.

73. On 30 April 2008, the Scotland Office published sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. Members noted that there was a very wide variation in rejected ballots in some constituencies – up to 12% for some polling districts.

Scottish Government response

74. The Scottish Government said that it intends to ensure that voters have simple and easy-to-use ballot papers for future local government elections.

75. The Scottish Government planned to continue to work on this issue to help improve voter understanding and awareness of the STV voting system. The Scottish Government noted that the Electoral Commission has announced proposals to develop a plan for a set of UK-wide standards on accessibility, design and usability of ballot papers and associated stationery by 30September2008. The Scottish Government aims to work with the Commission on this study, before deciding whether to undertake further research specifically into ballot paper design for Scottish local government elections.

76.The Scottish Government’s response also stated that it was committed to exploring methods to increase turnout for local government elections, including exploration of advanced forms of voting as recommended by the Gould report.

77. The Minister for Parliamentary Business addressed the question of turnout in his oral evidence to the Committee. He noted that turnout at district and regional council elections in 1974 had been more than 50%. In Denmark, he said, turnouts of 85% had been achieved and there was a much higher level of engagement in political processes by young people and civic society.

Committee views

78. The Committee has some concern that the lower level of rejected ballots in the local elections compared with the Scottish Parliament elections may be due, in part, to voters believing that they only had one vote and so marking their local election ballot papers with an “X” or with a “1”. These would be counted as valid ballot papers, but it may have been that some voters did not realise that they were able to vote for more than one candidate.

79. The Committee recommends that research be undertaken to establish what proportion of ballots were marked with a single “X” on the ballot paper. The Committee recommends that the existing statutory instrument enabling this information to be accessed by the Electoral Commission at the request of Scottish Ministers¹² be utilised if appropriate, or, that a fresh order be prepared for this purpose if necessary.

80. The Committee is concerned at the rate of rejected ballots in the local government elections. The Committee notes that although it was lower than the rate of rejected ballots in the Parliamentary election, it was, nevertheless, unacceptably high.

81. The Committee welcomes research work¹³ which has been done on rejected ballots in the parliamentary election, which has explored correlations between the level of rejected ballots and both social disadvantage and ballot paper design. The Committee welcomes the publication by the Scotland Office¹⁴ of sub-constituency election results for the Scottish Parliament elections, which enable variations in turnout by area to be examined more closely. The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government, if possible, makes available similar information at sub-ward level for the 2007 local government elections.

82. The Committee recommends that work should continue in finding ways of encouraging participation and engagement in elections. However, it notes the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust research¹⁵, which indicates that there is no evidence to suggest that electronic voting methods, such as via the internet, telephone or text-messaging, raises turnout and that, while postal voting has an immediate beneficial impact, this effect tends to level off and then decline at subsequent elections.

83. Voter registration is an issue which, while not covered in evidence to this inquiry, is also a reflection of engagement in the political process. There is a need for effective information campaigning directed at increasing electoral registration.

Ballot papers

Gould report recommendations

84. The Gould report recommended that:

• Legislation should permit access to the face of electronic images of the rejected ballot papers as authorised by the Electoral Commission, the Chief Returning Officer or other appropriate body.

• A public lottery be held following close of nominations to determine ballot paper positioning.

Evidence

85. Ron Gould commented that it was recognised internationally that the higher up the ballot paper a candidate’s name was placed, the greater chance s/he had of receiving more votes than lower-placed candidates. The fairest approach to address this issue, Gould suggested, was to have the placing of names of parties and candidates on the ballot paper determined by lottery.

86. The Electoral Commission accepted that there were alphabetical effects with the ballot paper. The Commission will study the grouping of candidates in order to find a fairer structure to the ballot paper. It suggested that the rotation of names is probably the fairest way to deal with the issue but recognised that this is a complicated solution.

87. Dr James Gilmour contended that there was an alphabetical effect and that the rotation of the order of names on the ballot paper would address the issue. He indicated that a lottery approach would not address the issue of candidates being listed in a fixed order.

Scottish Government response

88. The Scottish Government said that it intends to examine the various options for ballot paper design in more detail and consult widely with electoral stakeholders. This will form part of a wide ranging consultation that the Scottish Government will launch in 2009 on a number of operational issues to do with elections. The outcome of this consultation will inform drafting of the Scottish Local Elections Order that sets out the rules for conduct of local government elections. The Scottish Government intends to ensure that all options are rigorously tested to ensure that the ballot paper design is fair and focussed on the needs of the voter.

89. The Minister for Parliamentary Business, in his oral evidence, assured the Committee that he intended to ensure that ballot paper designs for the next elections would be carefully tested. He was happy to engage with the Committee on this issue.

Committee views

90. The Committee welcomes the Scottish Government’s intention to examine the various options for ballot paper design and to consult on the options. It wishes to stress the importance of effective testing of the options for ballot paper design and to be kept informed of the progress of this research.

91. The Committee recommends that consultation on ballot paper design should include disability rights organisations.

92. It is essential that ballot paper design leads to a ballot paper that is both easy to complete and results in a fair reflection of the views of the voter.

Postal ballot papers and packs

Gould report recommendations

93. The Gould report recommended that:

• The existing legislation be amended to provide for the close of nominations on the 23rd day (instead of the 16th day) before polling day.

• Consideration be given to other advance voting arrangements similar to those found in other countries, such as Canada and Sweden.

• Careful consideration be given to readying returned postal ballot papers in advance; advance voting at the office of the returning officer and via advance polls (and potentially even counting) before polling day.

Scottish Government response

94. The Scottish Government said that it plans to consult widely with electoral stakeholders to establish a timetable that equally balances the requirement for electors to be able to acquire postal votes with the time needed for the effective production and delivery of the postal voting service.

95. It said that it plans to examine, in partnership with stakeholders, ways to take these recommendations forward, including learning from other countries that have piloted such approaches.

96. The Minister for Parliamentary Business, in his oral evidence, told the Committee that he plans to bring forward a Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) which would make regulations for personal identifiers (i.e. signatures and date of birth) on postal vote applications for local elections.¹⁶ The regulations would help to reduce the risk of fraud. The UK Government planned to bring in a similar instrument in relation to the Scottish Parliament elections. The Minister confirmed, however, that there was no evidence that fraud was an issue in elections in Scotland. The Scottish Government was not complacent about the issue and would respond if there were evidence of fraud. He said that he would welcome discussion with the Committee on the regulations on personal identifiers when they were brought forward.

Committee views

97. The experience of members of the Committee of participating as candidates in the 2007 elections was that organisation of postal votes was inconsistent, even within constituencies, and that the support provided by information officers was variable.

98. The Committee notes the concerns raised in the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust research that greater use of postal voting may make UK elections vulnerable to fraud, and that the risk that systems of electoral administration may have reached breaking point as a result of pressures imposed in recent years. Nevertheless, the Committee acknowledges the value of the postal vote in allowing many more people to vote than would otherwise be the case.

99. The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government explores the greater use of postal voting as a means of improving voter participation, while bearing in mind the need to protect the integrity of the ballot.

100. The Committee will take equalities considerations and the need to ensure the protection of the ballot into account in its consideration of forthcoming regulations on personal identifiers when they are brought forward. It agrees that a signature and date of birth are minimum standards.

101. The Committee endorses the recommendation of the Gould report that nominations should close on the 23rd day (instead of the 16th) before polling day, subject to consultation with local authorities.

Ballot boxes, security and secrecy

Gould report recommendations

102. The Gould report recommended that:

• Consideration be given to options such as returning to folded ballot papers as in the past (or providing covering folders to voters to protect the secrecy of the ballot paper if folding the paper is not an option) as well as the active involvement of political parties and candidates along with electoral officials in the sealing of ballot boxes and recording of seal numbers for later checking.

Scottish Government response

103. The Scottish Government recognised the valid concerns raised about the secrecy of the ballot, which must remain a primary consideration. The Scottish Government said that it intends to work closely with electoral administrators to ensure a suitable solution is found to this problem, that ensures secrecy of the ballot.

Committee views

104. The Committee agrees that, if it is not possible for ballot papers to be folded, then the question of the security of the ballot needs to be resolved.

Public information

Gould report recommendations

105. The Gould report recommended that:

• Information officers continue to be used in any future combined elections or where there are major changes to existing voting practices or requirements. The proposed CRO should develop standard selection criteria and training programmes for this role.

• The dissemination of public information for both the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections would be best managed by the proposed CRO, who would be able to work closely with returning officers in conducting both Scotland-wide and polling station-based public information campaigns for future elections.

Evidence

106. Ron Gould emphasised that every proposed change to any aspect of the electoral process must be backed up by voter information and education.

107. The Electoral Commission accepted that it was essential that solutions for the problems that have been identified are tested thoroughly.

108. Ron Gould said that information officers were also an afterthought in the process. The officers varied widely in experience. However information officers could play an important role in future elections.

109. The Electoral Commission said that the information officers were not an afterthought and that Gould was referring to the late stage at which funding was approved to permit them to be used. There is a role for information officers at polling stations in the future but it must be developed, sustained by effective training and more focussed.

Scottish Government response

110. The Scottish Government said that it believes that information officers play a vital role on polling day and it will continue to encourage their use for local government elections.

111. The Scottish Government intends to consider the recommendation that the proposed CRO co-ordinates future information campaigns in the wider context of the roles and responsibilities of the CRO post.

112. The Minister, in his oral evidence, said that he agreed that there should be standardisation of the role of information officers, as recommended in the Gould report.

Committee views

113. The Committee considers that there should be more consistent and rigorous training of information officers, including training in disabilities awareness and other equalities issues. Voter information campaigns should be improved by more use of public forums, and by holding events in schools.

The count

Gould report recommendations

114. The Gould report recommended that:

• If the polls continue to close at 10.00pm, there should be no overnight count of the ballot papers.

• Electronic counting should continue for future combined parliamentary and local government elections or for local government elections alone, which use the STV system, once the elections have been decoupled.

• Electronic voting should not be introduced for the 2011 elections, until the electronic counting problems that were evidenced during the 2007 elections are resolved.

115. The proposed review of existing legislation and political involvement described above must ensure that electronic counting technology is properly integrated into the electoral process.

116. The CRO should examine how best to achieve this, especially as it relates to postal ballot pack design and contingency planning.

117. At the next election to use electronic counting, all doubtful ballot papers should be adjudicated by returning officers’ staff, with no auto adjudication. All ballot papers should be assessed using a guidance booklet developed by the chief returning officer similar to the one used for the 3 May 2007 elections.

118. Each example of a rejected ballot paper should have its own special code. The applicable code would be entered on each ballot that was rejected.

Evidence

119. Ron Gould said that electronic counting was important as it allowed results to be arrived at more smoothly and quickly than can be achieved through a manual STV count. The problems were due to the lateness of getting the system in place which resulted in last minute decisions and alterations to the count. However the system was successful enough to warrant continuing with electronic counting but that did not mean the same contractor or approach has to be used.

120. Dr James Gilmour suggested that STV could be conducted using a manual count but that e-counting was the more logical choice.

121. DRS Data Services emphasised that ballots could be scanned whatever way the ballot paper was entered into the scanner. It noted that for fast, effective scanning, an unfolded ballot paper was advantageous. DRS outlined a number of alternative ways in which the security of the ballot could be enhanced and stated that such measures had not been requested either by the Scotland Office or the Scottish Executive.

Scottish Government response

122. The Scottish Government, in its response to the Gould report, agreed that the accuracy of the count is of utmost importance. Therefore, the Scottish Government plans to consult further on this recommendation (alternatives to overnight counting) with a view to taking this forward in legislation.

123. The Scottish Government believed that electronic counting can successfully and reliably be used at future local government elections in Scotland. Therefore the Scottish Government intends to continue to encourage the use of electronic counting for the next local government elections. The Scottish Government does not believe that electronic counting is necessary for smaller scale local government by-elections, and because of further problems experienced at a recent electronically counted by-election, it recommends that manual counting is used as the base case for these contests. However, electronic counting could be used in parallel to help establish confidence in the system.

124. At the May 2007 elections, completely blank ballot papers were not referred to the returning officer for adjudication. This decision was made by the E-counting User Group in an attempt to minimise the workload on returning officers on election night. Given the events of election night, and the number of rejected ballot papers, the Scottish Government believed that to ensure transparency of the electronic counting system, no ballot papers should be automatically adjudicated at future elections.

125. In his oral evidence to the committee, the Minister for Parliamentary Business noted that there was a strong tradition in Scotland for votes to be counted overnight. He said that, for the next local government election, he would proceed on the basis that it would be electronically counted, provided that he could be sure that the system works.

Committee views

126. The Committee would prefer that the overnight count should be retained for local elections, if they are decoupled from other elections. Nevertheless, the Committee recognises that there may be practical difficulties in doing this and it recommends that the Scottish Government consults local authorities on this question.

127. The Committee considers that there should be agreed national standards on the display of spoilt ballot papers on screens at the count, where electronic counting is used.

128. The Committee recommends that contracts for future electronic counting, if possible, include a condition that the contractor should be willing to give an undertaking to co-operate with scrutiny by Scottish parliamentary committees.

equalities

129. The Royal National Institute for the Blind - Make It Count election report¹⁷ recommends that organisations representing people with visual impairment are involved in the ballot paper design process. The Scottish Government, in its response to the Gould report, said that it agreed strongly with this recommendation and would involve these organisations at every stage of the design process.

130. The Gould report indicated that the 2007 Elections Steering Group and its various sub-groups were supplemented, where appropriate, by external organisations such as the Disability Rights Commission, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality, Capability Scotland and Engender.

131. The SPICe briefing on rejected ballot papers quoted research conducted at Strathclyde University by Dr Christopher Carman and Professor James Mitchell¹⁸. They found that there was a strong relationship between constituency social context and the relative level of rejected papers generated across constituencies. The social indicators used were—

• percentage of adults without academic qualifications,

• percentage of the public that are unemployment benefit claimants, and

• percentage of the public reporting that they were not in good health.

132. Carman and Mitchell also found that there was a significant relationship between rejected ballot papers and the number of parties on the regional ballot papers. They took this as evidence that changes to the ballots made to accommodate the large number of parties registered for the regional list in certain regions had a strong and significant relationship with the percentage of rejected ballots.

133. The Gould report noted that the leaflet, delivered to every household as part of the VoteScotland public information campaign, was available in ten minority languages as well as in English.

134. The Minister for Parliamentary Business, in his oral evidence, agreed to consider whether representatives from disability rights organisations could be included in the membership of the Elections Steering Group.

Committee views

135. In considering the possibility of randomising names of candidates or parties on future ballot papers, care will need to be taken that people with literacy difficulties, who rely on alphabetical order to interrogate documents, are not disadvantaged.

136. The Committee recommends that the Elections Steering Group includes representation from equalities agencies and organisations in its membership.

137. The Committee also recommends that the Scottish Government considers whether further research is needed on promoting equalities within the elections process.

next steps

Electoral Commission

138. On 29 November 2007, the Electoral Commission outlined a number of specific activities it plans to take forward, including a wide-ranging examination of electoral administration structures across the UK, focussing on the principles of electoral administration and possible models of service delivery, and reporting towards the middle of 2008. The Commission also intends to publish a plan for the development of a set of UK-wide standards on the accessibility, design and usability of ballot papers and associated stationery by 30 September 2008.

139. The Commission published an issues paper in March 2008¹⁹ on the structure of electoral administration throughout the UK. The paper invites views on functions and principles for electoral administration and models for the delivery of electoral administration. It plans to publish its initial findings by the summer of 2008.

Scottish Government

140. The Scottish Government, in its written response to the Gould report, said that it would work closely with stakeholders, including the UK Government, with a view to publishing a detailed consultation paper on the creation of a CRO for Scotland later this year.

141. The Scottish Government has reconvened the Elections Steering Group with a view to discussing the wider implications of the Gould report, and how best to take forward specific recommendations. The Group will be chaired by a SOLACE representative and will be supported by the Scottish Government.

142. The Scottish Government aims to work with the Electoral Commission on its proposals to develop a plan for a set of UK-wide standards on the accessibility, design and usability of ballot papers and associated stationery, before deciding whether to commission further research specifically into ballot paper design for Scottish local government elections.

143. The Scottish Government will launch a wide ranging consultation in 2009 on a number of operational issues to do with elections. The outcome of this consultation will inform drafting of the Scottish Local Elections Order that will set out the rules for conduct of local government elections.

144. The Scottish Government agreed that the accuracy of the count is of utmost importance. Therefore it plans to consult further on alternatives to overnight counting with a view to taking this forward in legislation.

145. The Scottish Government is consulting now on decoupling local and parliamentary elections, with a view to bringing forward the necessary legislative proposals next year. (The consultation closes on 12 June 2008).

summary of conclusions and recommendations

146. Given the significance of the Gould report and the importance of those sections that are relevant to its remit, the Committee, at its meeting of7November 2007, agreed to take oral evidence on the content of the report and to consider its recommendations in relation to their impact on local government elections.

147. The Committee, having regard to the oral and written evidence which it received, endorses the resolution of the Scottish Parliament in relation to the Gould report.

148. The Committee agrees that a chief returning officer post for Scotland should be established in order to secure a co-ordinated and unified approach to elections held in Scotland. There should be consultation with local authorities and returning officers on how such a post would work with existing returning officers and on whether there is a need for full-time returning officers in local authorities.

149. The Committee recommends that further investigation of the Northern Ireland model be carried out with a view to considering whether it could be appropriate for Scotland.

150. The Committee expects to have a scrutiny role in regard to the work of the Elections Steering Group and a chief returning officer, if appointed. It anticipates that it would take evidence from them on their work from time to time.

151. The evidence taken by the Committee supports the view that decoupling local government elections from national elections would enable attention to be focussed more effectively on local issues. There would be additional organisational and administrative benefits as a consequence of less complex arrangements being required. The Committee endorses the decision of the Parliament that the elections to the Parliament and to local councils in Scotland should be decoupled.

152. The Committee is concerned that there should be effective consultation, engagement with the electorate and research and public information programmes if the danger of lower turnout is to be avoided. In moving towards decoupling of elections, more work needs to be done in these areas. The Committee looks forward to working with the Scottish Government in discussing effective ways of increasing voter participation in the electoral process.

153. If elections are to be decoupled, the Committee recommends that the date of the next local elections should be determined by extending this current local government electoral term and the next term to five years each, until the local elections are approximately equidistant from the Scottish Parliament elections. Local elections should thereafter revert to a four year cycle.

154. The Committee has some concern that the lower level of rejected ballots in the local elections compared with the Scottish Parliament elections may be due, in part, to voters believing that they only had one vote and so marking their local election ballot papers with an “X” or with a “1”. These would be counted as valid ballot papers, but it may have been that some voters did not realise that they were able to vote for more than one candidate.

155. The Committee recommends that research be undertaken to establish what proportion of ballots were marked with a single “X” on the ballot paper. The Committee recommends that the existing statutory instrument enabling this information to be accessed by the Electoral Commission at the request of Scottish Ministers²⁰ be utilised if appropriate, or, that a fresh order be prepared for this purpose if necessary.

156. The Committee is concerned at the rate of rejected ballots in the local government elections. The Committee notes that although it was lower than the rate of rejected ballots in the Parliamentary election, it was, nevertheless, unacceptably high.

157. The Committee welcomes research work²¹ which has been done on rejected ballots in the parliamentary election, which has explored correlations between the level of rejected ballots and both social disadvantage and ballot paper design. The Committee welcomes the publication by the Scotland Office²² of sub-constituency election results for the Scottish Parliament elections, which enable variations in turnout by area to be examined more closely. The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government, if possible, makes available similar information at sub-ward level for the 2007 local government elections.

158. The Committee recommends that work should continue in finding ways of encouraging participation and engagement in elections. However, it notes the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust research²³, which indicates that there is no evidence to suggest that electronic voting methods, such as via the internet, telephone or text-messaging, raises turnout and that, while postal voting has an immediate beneficial impact, this effect tends to level off and then decline at subsequent elections.

159. Voter registration is an issue which, while not covered in evidence to this inquiry, is also a reflection of engagement in the political process. There is a need for effective information campaigning directed at increasing electoral registration.

160. The Committee welcomes the Scottish Government’s intention to examine the various options for ballot paper design and to consult on the options. It wishes to stress the importance of effective testing of the options for ballot paper design and to be kept informed of the progress of this research.

161. The Committee recommends that consultation on ballot paper design should include disability rights organisations.

162. It is essential that ballot paper design leads to a ballot paper that is both easy to complete and results in a fair reflection of the views of the voter.

163. The experience of members of the Committee of participating as candidates in the 2007 elections was that organisation of postal votes was inconsistent, even within constituencies, and that the support provided by information officers was variable.

164. The Committee notes the concerns raised in the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust research that greater use of postal voting may make UK elections vulnerable to fraud, and that the risk that systems of electoral administration may have reached breaking point as a result of pressures imposed in recent years. Nevertheless, the Committee acknowledges the value of the postal vote in allowing many more people to vote than would otherwise be the case.

165. The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government explores the greater use of postal voting as a means of improving voter participation, while bearing in mind the need to protect the integrity of the ballot.

166. The Committee will take equalities considerations and the need to ensure the protection of the ballot into account in its consideration of forthcoming regulations on personal identifiers when they are brought forward. It agrees that a signature and date of birth are minimum standards.

167. The Committee endorses the recommendation of the Gould report that nominations should close on the 23rd day (instead of the 16th) before polling day, subject to consultation with local authorities.

168. The Committee agrees that, if it is not possible for ballot papers to be folded, then the question of the security of the ballot needs to be resolved.

169. The Committee considers that there should be more consistent and rigorous training of information officers, including equalities awareness training. Voter information campaigns should be improved by more use of public forums, and by holding events in schools.

170. The Committee would prefer that the overnight count should be retained for local elections, if they are decoupled from other elections. Nevertheless, the Committee recognises that there may be practical difficulties in doing this and it recommends that the Scottish Government consults local authorities on this question.

171. The Committee considers that there should be agreed national standards on the display of spoilt ballot papers on screens at the count, where electronic counting is used.

172. The Committee recommends that contracts for future electronic counting, if possible, include a condition that the contractor should be willing to give an undertaking to co-operate with scrutiny by Scottish parliamentary committees.

173. In considering the possibility of randomising names of candidates or parties on future ballot papers, care will need to be taken that people with literacy difficulties, who rely on alphabetical order to interrogate documents, are not disadvantaged.

174. The Committee recommends that the Elections Steering Group includes representation from equalities agencies and organisations in its membership.

175. The Committee also recommends that the Scottish Government considers whether further research is needed on promoting equalities within the elections process.

Annexe A

Annexe B

extracts from the minutes of the local government and communities committee

8th Meeting, 2007 (Session 3), Wednesday 7 November 2007

Report of the Electoral Commission: The Committee considered the report of the Electoral Commission on the Scottish elections 2007 and agreed to take evidence from Mr Ron Gould and the Electoral Commission. The Committee agreed to inform the Parliamentary Bureau of its inquiry and also agreed that it may wish to consider its remit at a later date.

10th Meeting, 2007 (Session 3), Wednesday 21 November 2007

Electoral Commission Report: The Committee took evidence from Ron Gould by video conference.

12th Meeting, 2007 (Session 3), Wednesday 5 December 2007

Elections 2007: The Committee took evidence on the report of the Electoral Commission “Taking forward the Electoral Commission’s independent review of the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections” from—

Sir Neil McIntosh CBE, Commissioner, Peter Wardle, Chief Executive and Andy O’Neill, Head of Office, Scotland, Electoral Commission.

2nd Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 23 January 2008

1. Decisions on taking business in private: The Committee agreed to take items 4 and 5 in private.

5. Elections 2007 (in private): The Committee agreed its approach to further work on the 2007 Scottish elections and agreed to seek further evidence from Data Research Services.

11th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 16 April 2008

1. Decisions on taking business in private: The Committee agreed to take items 4, 5 and 6 in private.

5. Elections 2007 (in private): The Committee considered a summary of evidence.

13th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 7 May 2008

1. Decisions on taking business in private: The Committee agreed to take item 3 and item 4 in private and also agreed to take all further consideration of its draft report on Elections 2007 in private.

3. Elections 2007: The Committee considered a draft report and agreed certain changes. The Committee also agreed to take evidence from Bruce Crawford, Minister for Parliamentary Business.

14th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 14 May 2008

Elections 2007: The Committee took evidence from Bruce Crawford MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business; Gerald Byrne, Head of Constitution Unit and Andy Sinclair, Senior Policy Officer, Constitutional and Parliamentary Secretariat; Scottish Government.

15th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 21 May 2008

Elections 2007 (in private): The Committee considered a draft report.

17th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3), Wednesday 4 June 2008

Elections 2007 (in private): The Committee considered a draft report and agreed certain changes.

ANNEXE C

extract from the official report of the local government and communities committee 7 November (8th Meeting, 2007 (session 3))

Annexe D

extract from the official report of the local government and communities committee 21 November (10th Meeting, 2007 (session 3))

SUPPLEMENTARY EVIDENCE FROM DATA SERVICES LIMITED

Letter from DRS dated 13 December 2007 [PDF 386Kb]

SUPPLEMENTARY EVIDENCE FROM THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Letter from the Electoral Commission dated 14 January 2008 [PDF 281Kb]

WRITTEN EVIDENCE FROM THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

The Electoral Commission wholeheartedly endorses the Gould report’s call for all those with a role in organising future elections consider the voters’ interests above all other considerations. The Commission will consider its own internal lessons and will strengthen our ‘elector first’ approach not just in Scotland, but in all our work.

The Electoral Commission has been calling for the consolidation of electoral legislation since 2001; we agree with the Gould report that this now needs to move forward with greater priority.

Since 2004 the Commission has consistently expressed concern about the problems caused by the late passage of primary and secondary electoral legislation. We agree that a ‘cut off’ provision should be introduced as the Gould report recommends.

The Gould report has carefully weighed the arguments for and against combination of elections, from the perspective of what it means for the voter. We agree that in the Scottish context, early consideration should be given to the timing of the next Scottish Parliamentary and Scottish local government elections, with a view to ‘decombining’ them.

The Gould report makes recommendations with far reaching consequences for electoral administration. We appreciate that given the importance of these matters, there has been early comment on whether the recommendations could be implemented before the next scheduled Scottish Parliamentary or local elections. Should there be a wish to proceed to swiftly consider or implement the options for the structure of electoral administration in Scotland that the Gould report sets out, the Commission has made suggestions for further thought on some aspects of the proposal.

Beyond this, the Commission’s view is that the current arrangements for electoral administration across the UK are no longer capable of delivering elections in a consistent and equitable fashion, as many of the issues examined by Gould apply not just in Scotland but in the rest of the UK as well. It is now time for a wide ranging examination of electoral administration to be held, and the Commission plans to do so.

It is essential that there should be a formal consultation process for future ballot paper design. The Commission will publish a plan for the development of a set of standards on the accessibility, design and usability of ballot papers and associated stationery by 30 September 2008.

The Commission agrees that at Scottish Parliamentary elections the regional ballot paper should be printed on a separate sheet from the constituency ballot paper.

The Commission has committed to considering the registration of party descriptions further on a UK-wide basis, in consultation with political parties and other interested bodies; we intend to conclude this consultation by the end of January 2008.

The Commission would support a decision by governments to consider the idea of random draws for ballot paper positions in light of the multiplicity of electoral systems now in use across the UK.

The Commission believes that there should be discussions among interested parties before any move to legislate on access to the face of electronic images of the rejected ballot papers.

The Commission shares the report’s concerns that secrecy may not be best maintained when ballot papers cannot be folded.

The Commission has previously recommended extending the timetable for elections and we are currently re-examining the 25 day proposal, to ensure that new procedures and processes introduced since 2003 can be safely accommodated. We will report on this re-examination by 31 March 2008.

We recommend that governments consult on the provision of advance voting facilities at all statutory elections in the UK.

The Commission continues to believe, as we recommended in January 2006, that overnight counting for combined Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections was unwise.

The Commission supports a new approach to integrating electronic counting into electoral legislation. We have continually pointed out that efforts to graft 21st century technology onto 19th century legislation does not work.

We note the report's conclusion that electronic counting should remain available for STV local elections in Scotland. We have laid out a programme of work that we believe should be completed by the end of 2009.

We agree that no automatic rejection of ballot papers should be allowed in legislative rules for electronic counting. This provides for candidates and agents to fully exercise their rights to inspect and object to the rejection of a ballot paper.

We agree that the number of bodies with a direct interest in the administration of elections should be reduced, and see the merit in such a proposal, given the issues faced in 2007. However, consideration must also be given to the conduct in Scotland of UK and European Parliamentary elections, electoral registration, and any future referendums, in assessing the full implications of this recommendation.

The Electoral Commission
November 2007

extract from the official report of the local government and communities committee 5 DECEMBER (12th Meeting, 2007 (session 3))

extract from the official report of the local government and communities committee 14 MAY (14th Meeting, 2008 (session 3))

SUPPLEMENTARY EVIDENCE FROM THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

Background

Northern Ireland is comprised of 18 Parliamentary constituencies with an eligible electorate of around 1.4m. Of these 85% are currently registered. Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are run using the Parliamentary constituencies with six members being elected for each on a STV basis. For elections to the European Parliament Northern Ireland is one region and elects three MEPs on a STV basis. There are 26 District Councils in Northern Ireland elections to which are also held on a STV basis.

Broadly speaking electoral law in Northern Ireland mirrors that in GB with the following main exceptions –

• individual rather than household registration

• annual canvass replaced by continuous registration

• robust counter-fraud measures both at registration and at voting

• no absent voting on demand

• independent Chief Electoral Officer

• Electoral Commission has no power to set standards.

History

The office of Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland (CEO) was created in 1972 as part of the extensive changes made to local government on account of the civil unrest. At that time there was a widespread perception that local government functions were performed in a discriminatory manner. All the important functions of local government were transferred either to central government or to newly created NDPBs such as the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. The electoral law functions were transferred to the new office of CEO which was created under section 14 of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 as substituted by Article 6 of the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

Shortly thereafter the CEO was allowed to employ his own staff who came to be known as the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer. In 2001 the collective name was changed to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. This “body” has no statutory or legal persona. In law the individuals are simply employees of the CEO.

Functions of the CEO

The CEO is the electoral registration officer and the returning officer for all 18 Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland. He is the returning officer for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly and for elections to the 26 District Councils in Northern Ireland. By law the council Chief Executives are the deputy returning officers but curiously the CEO has no statutory power to direct them in their duties or to take action if they fail to perform them in a satisfactory manner. In practice there is a good working relationship and the CEO’s staff carry out tasks at District Council elections such as the processing of absent votes on behalf of the DROs. The current unsatisfactory arrangements are to be reviewed as part of the proposed reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland. The CEO is the returning officer for the electoral region of Northern Ireland for elections to the European Parliament. He is also the counting officer for any Northern Ireland only referendum and for the electoral region of Northern Ireland at any UK wide referendum.

By virtue of section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 the CEO is required to submit an annual report to the Secretary of State who must lay it before Parliament. The report must in addition to narrating how he is discharging his functions over the year contain an assessment of the extent of which the relevant registration objectives have been met.

These objectives are set out in section 10ZB of the Representation of the People Act 1983 and can be summaries as follows

• every person entitled to be registered is registered

• no one not entitled to be registered is registered

• all the information held by the CEO is correct

The information concerned is the name, address, nationality, national insurance number, date of birth and signature of all electors.

By virtue of section 10ZA of the 1983 Act the CEO must, by 15 April each year, give written advice to the Secretary of State on whether a canvass should be held. This provision was introduced as a result of the replacement of the annual canvass by the process known as continuous registration.

By law the CEO is an assessor to both the Parliamentary Boundaries Commission and the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland. He attends all their meetings.

Apart from his statutory functions the CEO is responsible for the effective management of the Electoral Office.

Another valuable role is to assist the Secretary of State’s officials in dealing with electoral law issues and ensuring that Ministers are provided with appropriate advice.

Electoral Office for Northern Ireland

The Electoral Office (EONI) is the collective name for the staff who support the CEO in the performance of his duties. They are not civil servants but enjoy terms and conditions of service which mirror almost exactly those of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. There are around 45 full time staff but for an election nearly 4,000 casual staff are employed to staff polling stations and count centres.

The permanent staff are located at the Headquarters of in Belfast and at eight Area Electoral Offices across Northern Ireland. Each Area Office is headed by an Area Electoral Officer (B2/SO equivalent) who is supported by two or three other staff. Each Area Electoral Officer has responsibility for either 2 or 3 Parliamentary constituencies. The remainder of the permanent staff are located at the Headquarters building and are comprised mainly of those engaged in providing the IT, finance and personnel functions. There is also a centralised Helpline function for public enquiries of which approximately 450 are received during a normal week. At peak periods, such as elections, that figures is very much higher.

Tenure

The CEO is an independent statutory office holder and is not a civil servant. The appointment is by open competition supervised by OCPA. The appointment is for a period of five years which can be extended up to a maximum of ten years.

The CEO can be dismissed by the Secretary of State only on the very limited grounds set out in section 8(5) of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006.

The CEO salary is negotiated on appointment and reviewed each year in line with the SSRB recommendation. There is no performance pay.

Funding

The CEO salary costs are met from the consolidated fund. He is provided with a budget (£2.7m in 2007/08) for the running and capital costs of the Electoral Office. This includes the costs of continuous registration which replaced the annual canvass. A proportion of this amount is recovered from District Councils.

The budget does not cover the cost of elections which are funded separately. Each Northern Ireland wide election costs around £2.9m.

If an annual canvass was to be ordered it would be funded separately and would cost around £1.6m.

Advantages

The opinion in Northern Ireland is that these arrangements for management of the electoral function bring the following benefits –

• one central authority responsible for both registration and elections

• Northern Ireland wide standards can be set and monitored

• consistency of approach across Northern Ireland

• easier for political parties and other stakeholders who have only one person to talk to

• facilitates authoritative approach to Ministers for changes to the law

• easier to exploit the media to publicise new initiatives/reminders to the public

• the independence and secure tenure enables the post holder to take a robust attitude in dealing with central Government and the Electoral Commission

• a single IT database of electors and a Northern Ireland wide electoral register

• easier to implement changes to legislation and practice

• full time professional staff

• the independence of the post gives confidence to political parties and the public that the law

ANNEX E

other evidence

Scottish Elections Gould Report –Information note [PDF 40Kb]

Footnotes:

¹ The Electoral Commission. (2007) Scottish elections 2007: The independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections 3 May 2007. London: The Electoral Commission. Available at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/scotelectionsreview.cfm [Accessed 1 May 2008]

² The Electoral Commission. (2007) Scottish elections 2007: Electoral administration issues arising from the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections 3 May 2007. London: The Electoral Commission. Available at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/scotelectionsreview.cfm [Accessed 1 May 2008]

³ Scottish Parliament (Election, etc.) (Amendment) Order 2007.26 July 2007; Scottish Local Government Elections Amendment Order 2007. 14 August 2007.

⁴ The Scotland Office. (December 2007) Sorting the Ballot. Edinburgh: The Scotland Office. Available at http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/uploads/Scotland%20Office%20-%20Elections%20Consultation.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]

⁵ Scottish Government. (2008) Scottish Elections 2007: Scottish Government Response to the Independent Review of The Scottish Parliamentary and Local Government Elections 3 May 2007 Scottish Government. Available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/03/18080104/0 [Accessed 1 May 2008]

⁶ Scottish Parliament Information Centre. (2007) Rejected Ballot Papers. SPICe Briefing 07/36. Available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-07/SB07-36.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2008]

⁷ Electoral Reform Society. (2007) Local authority elections in Scotland. London: The Electoral Reform Society. http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/Scottishlocalgovernmentreport.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]

⁸ Stewart Wilks-Heeg. (2008) Purity of Elections in the UK: Cause for Concern. York: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. Available at: http://www.jrrt.org.uk/Purity%20of%20Elections%20in%20the%20UK.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]

⁹ House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee. (May 2008) Experience of the Scottish Elections. London: The Stationery Office Limited. Available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmscotaf/78/7802.htm [Accessed 29May 2008]

¹⁰The McIntosh Commission Report: Moving forward - Local Government and the Scottish Parliament (1999) The Report of the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament, 1999.

¹¹ Arbuthnott Commission Report: putting citizens first: Boundaries, voting and representation in Scotland, 2006

¹² Scottish Local Government Elections Amendment Order 2007. 14 August 2007.

¹³ Carman, C. and Mitchell, J. (2007) An Examination of Ballot Rejection in the Scottish Parliamentary Election of 2007. Unpublished manuscript. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde.

¹⁴ Scotland Office. (April 2008) Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. [Online] Available at http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/our-communications/documents.php?doctype=pubs [Accessed 29 May 2008].

¹⁵ Stewart Wilks-Heeg. (2008) Purity of Elections in the UK: Cause for Concern. York: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. Available at: http://www.jrrt.org.uk/Purity%20of%20Elections%20in%20the%20UK.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]

¹⁶ Such regulations would be made under the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006.

¹⁷ RNIB Scotland (2008) Make it Count. RNIB. Available at http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicWebsite/public_scotcampVOTE.hcsp [Accessed 1 May 2008]

¹⁸ Carman, C. and Mitchell, J. (2007) An Examination of Ballot Rejection in the Scottish Parliamentary Election of 2007. Unpublished manuscript. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde

¹⁹ The Electoral Commission. (2008) Examination of the structure of electoral administration in the United Kingdom. London: The Electoral Commission. Available at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/files/dms/IssuesPaper-EAExamination-2008-03-31-FINAL_28350-20843__E__N__S__W__.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]

²⁰ Scottish Local Government Elections Amendment Order 2007. 14 August 2007.

²¹ Carman, C. and Mitchell, J. (2007) An Examination of Ballot Rejection in the Scottish Parliamentary Election of 2007. Unpublished manuscript. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde.

²² Scotland Office. (April 2008) Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. [Online] Available at http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/our-communications/documents.php?doctype=pubs [Accessed 29 May 2008].

²³ Stewart Wilks-Heeg. (2008) Purity of Elections in the UK: Cause for Concern. York: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. Available at: http://www.jrrt.org.uk/Purity%20of%20Elections%20in%20the%20UK.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2008]