I don’t know about you, but the news that the Government had announced four pilot schemes to make voting “easier and more convenient” during this year’s local elections had rather passed me by.
To quote the release from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government;
In Milton Keynes, voters can have their say in the city’s main shopping centre – Midsummer Place – rather than being restricted to a single designated polling station. This could eventually be rolled out across the country in future elections along high streets and in town centres.
People in Cambridge, Tunbridge Wells and North Hertfordshire will be able to cast their vote in person ahead of the election, including on the weekend. This will stop people being limited to just one polling day.
Voters in these places will be able to visit central buildings across their area at a time that suits them, such as the Guildhall in Cambridge’s city centre.
As the press release notes, we’ve been voting in the same way since 1872, with voters required to turn up at a specific place on a specific day between specified times to vote. And yes, postal votes have enabled the infirm, or absentee voters, to take part more easily, but as someone who cut his teeth in politics as a democracy activist, anything that acts to increase turnout is probably a good thing.
It does raise some interesting challenges for campaigning though, and particularly what emphasis you put on the various elements of a polling day operation. How useful is telling if more and more voters have either voted by post or in advance? It does, however, emphasise the importance of canvassing all year round if you can.
I’d be interested to hear from campaigners in any of the areas where these pilot schemes are taking place so, if any of you are out there, let us know!
* Mark Valladares is the Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice.
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One Comment
Not that I am in one of the trial areas, but this does make the traditional practice of telling and ‘knocking up’ less practical. In my own area at the last general election, my local council used the electoral register on electronic tablets at polling stations, so one question that could be asked when this trial is assessed is whether the list of those who have voted (the ‘marked register’) could be supplied to parties or candidates before the close of poll, perhaps on a daily basis for postal voters/early voters or at intervals on polling day.