{"id":63246,"date":"2015-10-23T16:41:47","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T16:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=e8a31c5a66e005c3429fc54ebc810d15"},"modified":"2015-10-23T16:41:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T16:41:47","slug":"speech-vision-for-electoral-registration-speech-by-john-penrose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=63246","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Vision for electoral registration: speech by John Penrose"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Electoral registration is at the same time, mundane and politically contentious. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s mundane because, in the end, it\u2019s a vital but rather humdrum piece of electoral plumbing. Most of the time no-one gives it much thought, but we rely on it to work when we turn on the electoral taps. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s contentious too. Because every elected politician, from Barack Obama to the smallest parish councillor, knows it\u2019s vital. <\/p>\n

Voters may think you\u2019re the best thing since sliced bread; more popular than Stephen Fry and the Pope combined; but if those voters aren\u2019t registered to vote then it won\u2019t make a blind bit of difference.<\/p>\n

The same contrast colours our political debate in Britain today. <\/p>\n

[political content removed]<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by dismissing the nonsense, so we can clear the decks for the important bit in a minute. <\/p>\n

Firstly everyone agrees that Individual Electoral Registration (IER<\/abbr>)<\/a> is a good thing in principle because, for the first time, it means we can check ID to make sure someone is legally entitled to vote. It dramatically reduces the risk of electoral fraud, and should prevent any repeat of at least some of the appalling behaviour recently uncovered in Tower Hamlets. <\/p>\n

And, after 18 months, we\u2019re pretty much there. 96 out of every 100 voters have had their ID confirmed, and been switched across to the new system. For the last 4 out of 100, we\u2019ve made up to \u00a33 million available to local authorities to finish the job.<\/p>\n

By the end of this year, those few remaining voters will have been contacted at least 9 times. By post. By email. By phone. And by people physically knocking on their door. Anybody with a pulse who is legally entitled to vote will have been tracked down, and confirmed on the electoral register. <\/p>\n

The only ones left will be ghosts in the machine. Database errors of people who have moved house. Or died. Or who never existed because they were registered fraudulently in places like Tower Hamlets. So arguing, as some do, that real electors are about to be crossed off the register and lose their right to vote, is just silly. <\/p>\n

So is suggesting that, after 18 months and 9 or more contacts, we\u2019re going too quickly. These devotees of St Augustine who asked \u2018Lord give me chastity and continence, but just not yet\u2019 are following the doctrine of unripe time, which says the moment to do the right thing is always tomorrow, but never today.<\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

As I said, there\u2019s an important point in here. <\/p>\n

What is it? <\/p>\n

Well, modern British democracy is missing a lot of voters. Students. BME voters. People in short-term rented accommodation. Expats. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re all badly under-represented on the electoral rolls. The worst are expatriates, with a registration rate of less than 5% \u2013 1 in 20 \u2013 eligible voters. And regardless of who the missing voters might vote for, I hope every democrat would agree it\u2019s a scandal. <\/p>\n

Whole swathes of people who aren\u2019t able to use the democratic rights that, after all, suffragettes were dying for in this country just 100 years ago. <\/p>\n

And which people in other countries are still denied today. <\/p>\n

This won\u2019t do. I want, and Britain needs, a 21st century register that\u2019s both unimpeachably accurate and as complete as it can be. And there is no trade-off between the 2. Modern technology means we can have both. <\/p>\n

That work has already begun: with a modernised online registration process<\/a> that\u2019s easier and more secure than ever before. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a big hit with the public, not least because it only takes around 3 minutes to do. So you can register to vote<\/a> in less time than it takes to boil an egg. <\/p>\n

So far, 11 million applications have been under the new system, with over 3-quarters of these made online. 485,000 applications \u2013 96% of them online \u2013 were submitted on deadline day at the last election. That\u2019s comparable to all the application forms downloaded across the entire campaign period in 2010. <\/p>\n

But\u2019s there\u2019s still much more to do. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of a wider programme of digital transformation, one which takes it as read that people now expect services to be built around them: easy to find, always available, quick and simple to use. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s true whether it\u2019s booking a flight, ordering a takeaway or managing your finances online. It should be exactly the same for government. But, when it comes to other parts of our democracy, it isn\u2019t. Yet.<\/p>\n

Our shiny new online registration service rests on top of processes and procedures dating back to the time of Charles Dickens. It\u2019s like we\u2019ve had a fancy new front gate put in, but the driveway leading up to the gate still has grass growing up the middle, no signposting and a lawnmower rusting in a hedge. <\/p>\n

Take the annual canvas. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs<\/abbr>) have to send a household inquiry form to every property in their areas: 27 million properties and a mountain of paper. By law if there\u2019s no response the household gets 2 reminders followed by a visit. Much of this expensive activity is entirely unnecessary, as in most cases, 75% of households haven\u2019t changed since the last canvass. <\/p>\n

And the timing is terrible, as the canvass begins 2 months after an election: the very point in the cycle when voters are least likely to be paying attention. In wards with large numbers of students it\u2019s even worse. No-one\u2019s there to even see the letters until October.<\/p>\n

And the whole process is judged on inputs rather than outcomes: on letters delivered and doors knocked on, rather than electors actually registered to vote. It\u2019s a centrally determined one-size fits all process. But in fact it fits nobody. <\/p>\n

So it\u2019s time we got that driveway back into shape. <\/p>\n

We need to move from an old-fashioned, paper-based, box-ticking, process-obsessed system that was conceived for an analogue world, to a modern, flexible, digital answer that matches what we all expect \u2013 and already experience \u2013 in every other area of our lives. <\/p>\n

Fortunately, many councils are champing at the bit to make the change happen. You might even say they\u2019re fizzing with ideas, waiting to explode. They know we can drive down costs and engage more people at the same time, particularly from those hard-to-reach and under-registered groups I just mentioned. <\/p>\n

They want to use data they already hold on residents \u2013 parking permits or Council Tax records \u2013 to identify who hasn\u2019t moved house, so they can devote their money and time to tracking down the ones who\u2019ve recently moved in. <\/p>\n

They want to engage with local colleges and universities, learning from successful projects that are already running in places like Sheffield, to register more students.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re ready to enlist help from civil society organisations like Operation Black Vote<\/a> and Citizens UK<\/a> who can help reach out to voters from underrepresented groups.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also ready to work with political parties too. Political activists know, as I mentioned before, that this matters. They\u2019ve got skin in the game, as the Americans would say. <\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

Back to the councils and how we\u2019re going to work with them. They are \u2013 rightly \u2013 holding my feet to the fire as well. They want to use all those occasions when British citizens touch central government, whether it\u2019s for their pensions, benefits, driving license, tax or passports, to nudge them to register to vote. <\/p>\n

And they ask \u2013 entirely reasonably \u2013 why we ask everybody to re-register every year when we don\u2019t do the same for someone applying for a driving license? Or a TV licence? Or a pension? <\/p>\n

Individual Elector Registration rightly asks every citizen to claim their democratic right to vote. But once they\u2019ve done it, why do we keep asking them the same question again and again and again? Don\u2019t we trust them? <\/p>\n

And finally, crucially, they\u2019re happy to be judged by results. By how many new voters they find and sign up. By both the completeness and accuracy of their registers. Not just by the number of boxes they\u2019ve ticked. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been absolutely delighted by the enthusiasm and determination in local authorities when I\u2019ve met them to discuss this new approach. <\/p>\n

The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, SOLACE,<\/a> are right behind it and want to get involved. <\/p>\n

And a cross-section of progressive local councils have already started discussing specific ideas with my officials. <\/p>\n