Mouse: well, I’ve pounded street with registration forms and I’m in favour of individual registration!

I think it would bring significant benefits in terms of fighting electoral fraud, whilst the possible damage to registration rates can be offset by other work.

Felix: yes, she has responded and I’ll blog about that shortly.

Before it was set up the overseeing of elections was done by about three people in the Home Office (I do not exaggerate). No doubt a bit more than that is needed but it would help if they were people with some knowledge and understanding of the electoral and political process.

By the way the County Council turnout in Pendle was around 45% and not more than 3% or 4% of those would be bogus.

Tony Greaves
Tony Greaves

That’s not entirely fair. In some parts of the country – certainly in East Lancashire – the current registration system leads to some individuals getting multiple votes.

The numbers probably will go down, but at least some of the people who will disappear from the lists never had a vote in the first place.

Both organisations benefit from “bad news stories” [turnouts are down - yellowhammers are in decline] and choose to ignore “good news stories” [turnouts are up - buzzards are booming].

The RSPB needs bad news to get money from people; the EC needs bad news to justify its existence.

I presume even Jenny Watson didn’t read her speach as a few lines after bemoaning low turnout, it mentions turnout was was 24% in 1999.

How will individual registration boost the electoral register? It won’t, it makes registration harder.

Have any of the people advocating it actually pounded the streets to register people under the existing system? I doubt it.

The speach by Jenny Watson is totally awful.
the whole electoral commission is a watse of time and money. Is is also another example of how “transparency” is not a panacea. So for example, jsut because a massive donation is tarnsparently declared, it doesn’t make it healthy for democracy.