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The Co-Ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) - the Implementation of National Access Arrangements

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The Co-Ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) - the Implementation of National Access Arrangements The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) - The implementation of national access arrangements Consultation Paper CP 29/05 14/12/2005 This consultation will end on 07/03/2006 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) The implementation of national access arrangements A consultation produced by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. This information is also available on the DCA website at www.dca.gov.uk The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper Contents Executive summary 7 Introduction 10 The proposals 12 Appendix A: Extract from feasibility & options report 52 Appendix B: Diagram showng prospective relationship of CORE to other systems 68 About you 76 How to respond 77 The Consultation Criteria 79 Consultation Co-ordinator contact details 80 5 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper 6 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper Executive summary Part 1 of the Electoral Administration Bill1 currently before Parliament makes provision for the establishment of one or more Co-ordinated Online Record of Elector (CORE) schemes. It will allow - at national level - access to electoral registration data that will continue to be locally gathered and maintained. The scheme would be established by a secondary legislation order, a draft of which would first need to be actively approved by both Houses of Parliament. This consultation paper seeks views on what the CORE scheme order should contain. If the CORE provisions in the Bill obtain Royal Assent, we would wish to bring forward the first CORE scheme order – drafted in the light of responses to this paper - as soon as possible after that. That is why we are consulting on these issues now. Through the establishment of a CORE scheme, the Government is seeking to achieve: improvements in the integrity of electoral registers; more efficient access to registration data for those authorised; support modernisation of the voting process; improvements in the efficiency of the electoral administration process; and provide a mechanism by which reports can be provided and/or research conducted efficiently on electoral registration data, based on a national dataset. The establishment of a CORE scheme also aims to meet recent recommendations made by both the independent Electoral Commission and the OSCE’s2 Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. • Narrowing down the options (page 14) Six basic approaches to building CORE have been identified. By assessing each against the criteria of functionality, likely acceptability, implementability, and risk, the Government is proposing a structure that retains independent local systems, but requires them to mirror their information to a central data repository. • Compiling the record (page 19) 1 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/050/2006050.htm 2 Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe 7 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper The paper then proposes that the types of information that should pass between local electoral registration officers (EROs) and the CORE ‘keeper’ should be not just information from the ‘full’ version of the electoral register itself, but also absent voter list information, and any additional electoral registration information that the Electoral Administration Bill is currently proposing for EROs (i.e. personal identifiers and ‘off-register’ details for proposed ‘anonymous electors’). We also suggest that marked register information might also form part of the CORE record, recognising that this would be a longer term aim. Also in relation to the flow of information between local ERO and CORE keeper, we propose that the ability to use the Election Markup Language data transfer standard should be made mandatory upon EROs by the end of 2006, and that CORE should primarily link to EROs using the Government Connect arrangements. Finally in this section, we seek views on the proposals that: a) EROs should send largely automated updating information to the CORE keeper on a daily basis; and b) that such information should be accepted into the central record automatically, so that as complete a record as possible is available at all times. • Providing copies of the record from CORE (page 30) The paper seeks views on whether – and to what extent – a CORE keeper may be subject to different constraints than those that apply to a local ERO. Specifically, we propose that large-scale users of electoral data should obtain that information from the CORE keeper rather than local EROs, and we seek views on whether smaller-scale users should also be required to do so. We do not, at this time, propose that the data held by a CORE keeper should be directly provided to a returning officer to run an election. We propose that - under strict controls - authorised bodies (e.g. the police) should be given the ability to directly access the CORE record electronically in order to search for the most up to date information. We invite views on who might be appropriate bodies to allow such access to. • Elector access to CORE (page 36) We propose to allow a householder to confirm electronically via a CORE keeper that no change is required to the electoral register information held for a property, with that information then being forwarded to the relevant ERO. We do not propose to allow householders to add, amend, or delete information in the same way. However, we do propose that – subject to appropriate security - an individual 8 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper should be able to check, confirm, and request changes to their information that a CORE keeper held, with the CORE keeper again subsequently forwarding confirmations and change requests to the relevant EROs. • Anti-fraud mechanisms (page 39) Using the different types of information proposed to be passed to CORE by local EROs (see above) we believe that the CORE keeper should be empowered to check his records for apparently anomalous data relating to: a) the same elector being registered in more than one place; b) the appointment of the same individual to act as proxy for more than two people; c) the same address being used as the mailing address for the postal voting packs of more than a specified number of electors; and d) the same elector being issued with and/or casting more ballots than they are entitled to do in a given election. We then propose that the keeper should be required to forward all relevant details of anomalous data to all EROs who it affects, and that EROs be required to act in consequence of – and respond to – any such notification from a CORE keeper. We invite views on how frequently such notifications should be sent out by a CORE keeper, and on what the consequent impact of such a requirement to act would be on EROs. We believe it should also be possible for an ERO to be pro-active in initiating a duplicate check with a CORE keeper on a specific elector. • Establishing the first CORE scheme (page 45) The paper then looks at how the first CORE scheme might be established and seeks views on: a) whether the CORE infrastructure should be established on a limited geographical scale initially, or be introduced across the UK from the start; and b) whether the Electoral Commission or some other public body should be appointed as the CORE ‘keeper’. • Future possibilities (page 48) Finally, in relation to longer term possibilities, we seek views on whether linkage between the CORE dataset and other public sector databases should be actively pursued. The potential for receiving updates on changes to the status of individual electors and undertaking data matching could significantly improve both the integrity and comprehensiveness of electoral registers, but equally presents fairly significant data protection and technical issues that would need to be resolved. 9 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper Introduction This paper sets out for consultation a number of detailed issues and proposals for the implementation of arrangements providing national access to locally collected and maintained electoral registration data. The consultation is aimed at those involved in producing electoral register data (electoral registration officials, the providers of their software, and the electors who supply the information to the register in the first place) and the users of that data (e.g. government departments, the Electoral Commission, political parties, registered credit reference agencies), as well as other agencies and organisations throughout the United Kingdom that have an interest in the proposed changes. This consultation is being conducted in line with the Code of Practice on Consultation issued by the Cabinet Office and falls within the scope of the Code. The Consultation Criteria, which are set out on page 79 have been followed. A final Regulatory Impact Assessment which considered all parts of the Electoral Administration Bill (including Part 1 on the Coordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) was published on 11 October 2005. This is available on the DCA website at: http://www.dca.gov.uk/legist/electroadminbill.pdf. A detailed RIA on CORE will be published when the secondary legislation required to implement it is consulted on. Consequently, this paper does not contain a Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment. If you disagree with this conclusion you are invited to send your reasons as part of your overall response to this paper. Copies of the consultation paper are being sent to: Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Disability Rights Commission Electoral Commission Association of Electoral Administrators Scottish Assessors Association 10 The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) Consultation Paper Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland Local Government Association Political Parties Members of the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee Credit reference agencies (e.g.
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