Crown and Elections Cabinet Office Government Office Bucks Road

DOUGLAS

Isle of Man IM1 3PN Tel: 15 November 2016 Website

Committee Secretariat Legislative Buildings Finch Road Douglas IM1 3PW

Request for written evidence - Tynwald Select Committee on the General Election

Further to the request from the Committee Secretariat dated 20 October 2016, I have pleasure in submitting the requested evidence on behalf of the Cabinet Office. I can confirm that this submission and the supplied Appendix can be published in full.

Background

1. Properly administered elections in accordance with legislation are an important element in maintaining the Island’s international reputation and the public’s confidence in the democratic process. The Isle of Man’s General Elections are administered by the Cabinet Office in accordance with the Representation of the People Act 1995, the Registration of Electors Act 2006 and the Representation of the People Regulations 2015.

2. The independence of the electoral process is of paramount importance. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor has responsibility for issuing the writ, which initiates an election. Officers within the Crown and Elections Unit of Cabinet Office provide administrative support. Returning Officers are appointed by the Governor, for a 5 year term of office. The legislation states:-

“It is the duty of a returning officer to do everything at an election which is necessary for effectually conducting the election in accordance with election regulations.”

3. Returning officers are a key aspect in delivering elections. It has been long standing practice, in order to ensure independence from Government, for Returning Officers to be local advocates nominated by the Isle of Man Law Society, although there is no legal requirement for this to be the case. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit returning officers to carry out this vital role, with a number of returning officers resigning in the period following the 2011 general election. It should be appreciated that the work involved and the remuneration for the role results in advocates incurring a significant financial loss against potential earnings, although some advocates balance that against performing a civic duty for the good of the Isle of Man.

4. For the 2016 General Election there were significant difficulties in securing the services of sufficient Returning Officers, notwithstanding that the number required had been reduced from 15 to 12 as a result of the new constituencies. In order to ensure sufficient Returning Officers were appointed for the General Election, the Crown and Elections Unit worked closely with the Isle of Man Law Society. To reduce the administrative burden on Returning Officers it was agreed the Crown and Elections Unit would take on many of the administrative tasks which are the duty of the Returning Officer. Many of the Returning Officers for the 2016 General Election had not

performed that role before, although most had had some sort of involvement in the election process in previous years.

Work of the Crown and Elections Unit

5. Officers in the Crown and Elections Unit provide support to the Returning Officers in supplying them with all of the materials, stationery and equipment necessary to carry out their statutory duties. This is a major logistical operation with numerous boxes being prepared for each Returning Officer with all necessary equipment, stationery and supplies for them to process advance votes, separate boxes for each polling station and further boxes for each counting station. Polling booths, ballot boxes and ramps (which there was considerable difficulty in sourcing) are also delivered Island wide.

6. The Crown and Elections Unit undertook significant work for the 2016 election to improve accessibility of the election. A significant number of the polling stations selected by Returning Officers were not accessible for persons in wheelchairs. The Crown and Elections Unit undertook sourcing of ramps so that nearly all of the polling stations were accessible. Tactile voting devices were sourced and distributed to all polling stations to assist the visually impaired in casting their ballot in secret; no longer reliant on the polling station staff to assist.

7. For the 2016 General Election the Crown and Elections Unit undertook additional tasks previously the responsibility of the Returning Officer. These included making bookings for the 45 different buildings used as polling stations1, ordering and printing ballot papers for each constituency and issuing the Notice of Poll as required by the legislation. No additional staff, save for a summer student, were allocated to the Crown and Elections Unit to undertake this additional work.

8. The election website (www.gov.im/elections) was redesigned and continually updated throughout the election period. Candidates were able to submit their manifestos for display on the website, in accordance with the Representation of the People Act 1995. The website was a popular source of information used by the public, parties and candidates during the election period. The website contained copies of the various guidance documents issued:

Guidance to Candidates Election Funding Guidance A Guide to Voting

9. Further additional tasks for the Crown and Elections Unit arose in relation to new provisions for candidates relating to donations and expenses. All prospective candidates were contacted as and when they publically declared to advise them of the new provisions and provide a copy of the relevant Guidance and to direct them to the website where they could find additional information on these requirements and relevant legislation.

10. Thereafter a register was required to be prepared for General Registry detailing all donations received, including nil returns. This was a new requirement of the Act for the 2016 election which meant that as the register was open for public inspection 7 days before the poll, voters could cast their ballot with the knowledge of who had been funding the campaign (if at all) of their preferred candidate.

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Voter Turnout

11. The Isle of Man, like many western democracies, has seen a continuing downward decline in voter turnout. For a significant number of people there is also a lack of trust in government and politicians and a disconnect from the political arena as it affects their daily lives.

12. Cognisant of this downturn in voter turnout the Crown and Elections Unit, together with the Cabinet Office Corporate Communications Service, undertook a major promotional campaign using a broad range of communication tools and media, to raise awareness of the election and to highlight the importance of voting. The Department of Education and Children also played its part in raising youth awareness by producing a colourful interactive guide and running “hustings” events in schools.

13. Messages supporting the campaign to raise public awareness of the election process and to encourage voting were delivered by the Corporate Communications Service through various means, including news releases, brochures, interviews with local radio and television news and special interest programmes, contributions to the election webpages hosted by local media, and a 30 minute BBC news programme about the Isle of Man election. The impact of the BBC programme was so great that it prompted international interest (from the Guardian, New York Times and WNYC radio) in the Isle of Man election.

14. In addition to the public messages, Isle of Man government employees were reached through all- staff bulletins and articles in the quarterly staff newsletter, Update. An exhibition to raise awareness of the election, prepared by the Crown and Elections Unit, was open to the public in the Tynwald Library.

15. The Corporate Communications Service, with the Crown and Elections Unit, prepared an eight- page “Your Guide to Voting” supplement which was distributed with the Isle of Man Examiner (30 August) and Courier (2 September), and was well-received by the public. It provided such information as the official Notice of Poll for each constituency, information on the boundary changes (including a map), advice on the various means of voting, and contact details for Returning Officers and the Election Office.

16. Making use of the Cabinet Office Twitter account, Corporate Communications Service delivered an election awareness campaign from August 5 until about 7pm on election night. During the campaign 60 election-related tweets were sent out from the @IOMGovernment account to more than 7,000 followers. The tweet messages covered such topics as:

 Encouraging people to ensure they were on the electoral register  Encouraging 16 and 17 year olds to register to vote  Encouraging people who had moved house to update their voter details  How to apply for advance/proxy votes  Constituency maps  Candidate information  Returning Officer contact information  Promotion of requisition meetings  Promotion of the “Your Guide to Voting” supplement  How to vote on the day  What to do at the polling station

17. A full record of the communications activities supporting the campaign to raise awareness of the election process and to encourage voting has been complied to assist the Committee with its considerations and is submitted as Appendix 1. The file includes:

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 A calendar of communication activities  Media monitor summary of election news coverage  News releases  Email reminders of requisition meetings  Specific media coverage on boundary changes  Leaflets  Staff newsletters  Website elections page  Guidance for candidates; guidance for Government Officers  Public Notices  Tweets @IOMGovernment  News releases and staff bulletins with brief mentions of general election

Requisition Meetings

18. One of the issues singled out for comment is the promotion of meetings in which the candidates would face questioning from the public. Traditionally these would have been Requisition Meetings called by Captains of the Parish upon a request from a required number of voters that such a meeting be held. The popular and unique Manx custom of requisition meetings has been in existence since the early 1860s. When, in the course of a political election, a formal request in writing by a body of electors in a parish reaches a Captain, arrangements are made to invite all candidates to share a platform, usually under the chairmanship of the Captain in person.

19. Government has historically paid for the advertising of these meetings and for the hire of the hall, if applicable. Some Captains have made their own arrangements with Isle of Man Newspapers for the placing of a Public Notice and then requested reimbursement from Government whereas others have asked the Crown and Elections Unit to place the Public Notice on their behalf.

20. The introduction of the new 12 2-seat constituencies in large part removed the traditional alignment of parish and constituency boundaries. As a consequence, rather than rely on the traditional procedure, some local authorities took the initiative to hold meetings for their residents, some candidates held their own public meetings and a few parishes held requisition meetings.

21. The practice in past elections was to place public notices in the Courier Newspaper to inform voters of the dates for requisition meetings. Some 30,000 copies of the Courier are printed and distributed weekly around the Island. For the 2016 election, a broader range of communications tools – providing more immediate and timely information than weekly publication at reduced cost - were employed to reach voters with the news of public meetings:

 Listing upcoming meetings on the Isle of Man Government election webpage  Notifying 29 media contacts and news desks with details of forthcoming meetings, including . (Port St Mary) 8 September . (Maughold) 8 September . Garff () 9 September . Douglas Central 13 September . 14 September . 15 September . (Union Mills) 16 September . South Douglas 19 September . and Michael (Ballaugh) 20 September . Ayre and Michael (Kirk Michael) 21 September . Onchan 20 September

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 Reminders of the meetings were also given through the @IOMGovernment Twitter account

22. With this information, Manx Radio, Isle of Man Newspapers and 3FM updated their own election websites and aired/published news items announcing that the meetings would be held. Using the above mentioned methods of communication resulted in the majority of requisition meetings being attended by near capacity audiences.

23. It should be noted that the new constituency boundaries do not equate to parish boundaries. Therefore in some cases two or three requisition meetings were held for some constituencies. Going forward it is not intended to revert to Public Notices to publicise requisition meetings.

Poll Cards

24. The purpose of a poll card is to advise voters where and when they need to attend in order to cast their vote. It is not a requirement to bring your poll card to the polling station. In order to assist voters further, details of polling districts and stations were:  listed on the election website,  included in the Notice of Poll which appeared in the newspapers and  people could find their polling station through www.gov.im/maps using their postcode to find the details.

25. The electoral registration IT system, from which data is extracted to produce poll cards, was programmed by the UK supplier to cater for local authority and House of Keys elections. There are different polling districts which apply to local authority elections and for House of Keys elections. Regrettably the data supplied by the Crown and Elections Unit over a year ago to the UK supplier to convert the existing local authority polling district data into that which would apply for the 12 new House of Keys constituencies had transposed incorrectly the information in respect of the Ramsey polling districts. This resulted in the information on the poll cards issued to Ramsey voters listing incorrect polling districts and stations. The information on the website, in the election supplement and on the mapping service was all correct. The error was identified quickly and corrected prior to polling day and the supplier has subsequently programmed the system with the correct details.

26. Replacement corrected poll cards were issued swiftly. The Returning Officer, Mr Jelski, has confirmed that there were no significant issues with electors turning up at incorrect polling stations.

The Count

27. As previously advised the legislation states “It is the duty of a returning officer to do everything at an election which is necessary for effectually conducting the election in accordance with election regulations.”

28. Prior to the election a meeting was held by the Crown and Elections Unit with Returning Officers to discuss any issues relating to the election. It was recognised that many of the Returning Officers were new and that the Crown and Elections Unit wished to ensure they were supported as necessary. Until recently it had been the custom for those appointed as a Returning Officer to seek reappointment and therefore the depth and breadth of experience has continued over the years. Each Returning Officer had prepared their own procedure notes to ensure their processes complied with legislative requirements.

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29. In 2011 the Crown and Elections Unit prepared a Guidance Document at the request of a new Returning Officer based on a document which had been prepared by another Returning Officer specifically for their own constituency. It is believed this is the first time such a document had been issued by the Crown and Elections Unit. It must be recognised that the Guidance Document is an operational document. As such it needs to meet the circumstances of individual polling/counting stations and the requirements of the Returning Officer. It must also be recognised that the Crown and Elections Unit has no practical experience as to the operation of the poll and has limited knowledge as to the operation of the count, having been permitted to attend as observers on a few recent occasions for by-elections.

30. For the 2016 General Election an enhanced Guidance Document was prepared for Returning Officers which was distributed to them prior to the meeting with the Crown and Elections Unit for them to raise any queries they may have had.

31. The conduct of the count was discussed at the meeting held in July 2016, in particular with reference to all constituencies now being 2 seats. The consensus reached at the meeting for conducting the count was that following the completion of the verification stage, single votes should be separated out first and then the remaining votes sorted into the various combinations and then counted.

32. In addition to the Guidance Document prepared for Returning Officers, the Crown and Elections Unit also prepared various forms which were required under legislative provisions. In addition to the forms being checked for legislative compliance by the Attorney General’s Chambers they were also checked by an experienced deputy Returning Officer to ensure they worked from a practical perspective.

33. Compliance with legislative requirements affords leeway to the Returning Officers to meet the requirements in different ways. It has become apparent that Returning Officers do operate different practices at all stages of the electoral process. Going forward it would be possible to be more prescriptive for the conduct of the count; whether through prescribing more detail in legislation or through provision of documentation specifying exactly the steps, stages and process to be undertaken by Returning Officers.

34. However, it must be recognised that in any manual process there would always be room for human error. Electronic counting machines, to count paper ballot papers, are available and electronic voting systems are also on the market. The reliability, security, and cost of such systems are factors to be taken into account, as is the trust of the public.

The Way Forward

35. In order to ensure electoral integrity and independence, the Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators has been engaged to assist the Cabinet Office with the root and branch review of the Island’s election legislation, which will also encompass the related matter of electoral registration. This review will need to be completed by the end of 2017 in order for new primary and secondary legislation, guidance, and forms to be in place by the end of 2020 to be applicable to the General Election in 2021.

36. The current legislation is very much based on practices which are many years old and does not afford the opportunity to use modern technology, adopt efficiencies and achieve cost savings. Going forward, and with a willingness to accept major change combined with an appropriately resourced Electoral Unit, there is the opportunity for the Isle of Man to have an electoral process and accompanying legislation which is:

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 modern  robust  promotes electoral integrity  clear  efficient, and  cost effective.

37. Although the Act and Regulations have recently been updated, it has long been recognised that a full review of election legislation is overdue. After every General Election the Crown and Elections Unit meets with Returning Officers to identify improvements to be made. In some cases legislative amendments are required. It is also an opportunity for Returning Officers to share best practice. At the recent meeting Returning Officers present were in agreement that a significant reduction in the number of polling districts is required. Presently there are 56 polling districts for a total electorate numbering around 60,000. This resulted in some very low turnout figures for some of the polling stations, which were required to be hired and manned for in excess of a 12 hour period on election day. Further analysis of the i) turnout by polling station and ii) cost (excluding poll staff) per vote cast at each polling station is available should the Committee require.

38. The root and branch review is the opportunity to establish the vision for a robust and modern electoral system. In order to achieve this there will need to be a political and public acceptance of the change necessary to move forward and adopt new technology and practice and process.

I hope that the Committee finds this submission useful.

Yours sincerely

[Signed W Greenhow]

Will Greenhow Chief Secretary

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