The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland response

Further to the Report of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Electoral Registration in Northern Ireland, published on 15 December, the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI) would want to make the following comments. For the sake of clarity the same numbering system is used as in the Report.

Paragraph 6, line 19 - It is incorrect to say that a ballot paper may be marked in some way; rather, where the Presiding Officer is not satisfied as to the identity of the elector, a normal ballot paper cannot be issued and a tendered ballot paper will be offered.

Paragraph 26 - The Electoral Office would be very keen to extend the outreach programme in the way recommended and seeks the support of the Committee in doing so.

Paragraph 27 - The Electoral Office would be glad to see legislation enacted which placed a responsibility on adults in households to ensure that 17 year olds are entered on the Register.

Paragraph 35 - Procedures were revised some time ago and a more sympathetically worded letter to attestors drawn up in conjunction with Mencap. Nevertheless, it is a fundamental principle that no one may take or use the vote of another and so it is necessary to continue to ensure that every elector on the Register is capable of reaching a decision about for whom they wish to vote and casting their vote personally.

Paragraph 36 - Again, the Electoral Office would be very keen to extend the outreach programme in the way recommended and again seeks the support of the Committee in doing so.

Paragraph 37, line 9 - The names of deceased electors have, for some years, been removed from the Register on the basis of information supplied weekly by the Northern Ireland Registrar General. Such deceased electors are removed each month under Rolling Registration.

Paragraph 38 - The Electoral Office believes that prior to the implementation of individual registration under the 2002 Act the Northern Ireland Register contained about 85% of those legitimately eligible, plus a further 10% duplicate and "phantom" names. The present figure of 85% is therefore directly compatible with the previous level of legitimate registration. Furthermore, there must be considerable doubt about the 93% level of registration claimed in Great Britain as we are led to believe that many Registration Officers there have a policy of rarely removing names from their Registers. This, it has been suggested to us, is because the fees payable to Returning Officers at elections are based on the number of electors on Registers. The higher the number of electors, the higher the fees paid to Returning Officers in Great Britain. As a result, we are of the view that the level of legitimate registration in Great Britain could well be considerably below that in Northern Ireland.

Paragraph 44 - This process has broadly been in use since 2002. Every elector on the previous Register who fails to submit a registration form during the autumn canvass is written to with a personalised letter in December explaining that their name does not appear on the new Register and inviting them to register under Rolling Registration. In addition, each household in Northern Ireland from which no registration form is received is contacted by letter to warn of the omission and offer potential electors the opportunity to register under Rolling Registration. The canvasser, when making house calls each autumn, is instructed to enquire if all eligible electors are being registered and to leave as many blank registration forms as might be needed for those whose names were not on the previous Register. This, of course, includes households where no one has previously been registered.

Paragraph 45 - The Electoral Office considers that it has examined the implication of re-introduction of the carry forward in some depth and is firmly of the view that it should be re-introduced as soon as practicable. It is unclear to the EONI why the Electoral Commission should support retention of the carry forward in Great Britain, while not supporting its re-introduction in Northern Ireland. In addition, the EONI has recently made major proposals to Ministers which, if adopted, would radically change the way in which registration is carried out in Northern Ireland by introducing a form of continuous carry forward.

Paragraph 61 - Almost half of the electors who were unable to vote at the last election because of incorrect identity documents did present correct forms of identity, but, unfortunately, out-of-date versions. It is probable that such people were unaware of their documents being out-of-date and therefore probably would not have considered it necessary to apply for an Electoral Identity Card. In addition, a significant number returned later on polling day with valid forms of identity and indeed were able to cast their vote. Nevertheless, the Electoral Office is fully committed to the Committee's recommendation that the campaigns to remind voters of the requirement for photographic ID should be repeated regularly, particularly ahead of elections.

Paragraph 63 - The Electoral Office advised Ministers that holding an Assembly election in the autumn canvass period was likely to cause considerable confusion for electors and difficulty for the EONI. Nevertheless, Parliament decided to enact legislation to suspend the canvass half way through and run an Assembly election on 26 November 2003. The resultant pressures on EONI staff were horrendous and it is a testament to their long hours of hard work, dedication and attention to detail that a successful election was run and a new Register subsequently published in February 2004. Unfortunately, it was also the case that many electors were confused about the Register used at this election and the relevance of the February publication date.

Paragraph 70 - The Electoral Office strongly welcomes the Committee's recommendation that urgent consideration should be given to the funding mechanism and level of funding for the EONI. Without adequate resources the gains emanating from the 2002 Act may well be lost and the size of the Register may fall significantly.

Paragraph 73 - The Electoral Office does not accept that its initiatives in any way competed with those of the Electoral Commission. The EONI has always provided a service to answer electors' queries in advance of elections and, on this occasion, the EONI sought only to address problems which had become apparent when the Commission's initiatives were being implemented. In the case of the Commission's Help Line, the commercial call centre used was unable to answer questions of a personal or non-routine nature and the call centre staff were instructed by the Commission to advise callers to contact the EONI Information Unit. The Unit simply could not handle the subsequent volumes of calls and the only expedient was to set up a specialist EONI advice line. This was done in the best interest of electors and was considered to be complementary to the Commission's Help Line. It is difficult to see what else might have been done in the circumstances.

A similar imperative prompted the Electoral Office to run a poster campaign in autumn 2002 targeting young people and first-time voters. The EONI was very concerned that individual registration would have an adverse affect on the number of young people registering. The Commission seemed unable to address the problem and in the end the EONI felt it necessary to act. Again this was considered to be complementary to the Commission's work.

Paragraph 75 - Recognising the need for seamless co-operation between the Commission, the Northern Ireland Office and the Electoral Office, the EONI instigated some time ago the drawing up of a Memorandum of Agreement between all three organisations. It is expected that the Memorandum will be finalised shortly. In practical terms, staff from the three organisations meet very frequently and the EONI is an important producer of training and guidance materials in advance of all elections.