Select Committee on the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 An electoral system fit for today? More to be done Oral Evidence Volume Contents Allerdale Borough Council and Peterborough City Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62- 72) ....................................................................................................... 3 Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) - Oral evidence (QQ 17-30) ....... 22 Bite the Ballot and Electoral Reform Society - Oral evidence (QQ 83-91) ........ 41 Braintree District Council, Woking Borough Council and Watford Borough Council - Oral evidence (QQ 147-158) ................................................................. 65 British Youth Council, National Union of Students and Office for Students - Oral evidence (QQ 92-100)............................................................................ 84 Dr Alistair Clark, Newcastle University; Professor Toby James, University of East Anglia – Oral evidence (QQ 73-82) ..........................................................104 Electoral Reform Society and Bite the Ballot - Oral evidence (QQ 83-91) .......119 Hart District Council, Pembrokeshire County Council; London Borough of Camden – Oral evidence (QQ 45-61) ...................................................................120 HM Government - Peter Lee, Director, Constitution Group, Cabinet Office; and Natalie Bodek, Acting Deputy Director, Elections Division, Cabinet Office – Oral evidence (QQ 180-207) .........................................................................143 HM Government – Peter Lee, Director, Constitution Unit, Cabinet Office and Simon James, Deputy Director, Elections Division, Cabinet Office – Oral evidence (QQ 1- 16) ....................................................................................................166 Francis Hoar, Field Court Chambers and Gavin Millar QC, Matrix Chambers – Oral evidence (QQ 118-126) .........................................................................189 Professor Toby James, University of East Anglia and Dr Alistair Clark, Newcastle University – Oral evidence (QQ 73-82) ....................................................209 London Borough of Camden, Pembrokeshire County Council and Hart District Council – Oral evidence (QQ 45-61) ........................................................210 Richard Mawrey QC - Oral evidence (QQ 111-117) .....................................211 Allerdale Borough Council and Peterborough City Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62- 72) Virginia McVea, Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland – Oral evidence (QQ 127-146) ............................................................................................225 Gavin Millar QC, Matrix Chambers and Francis Hoar, Field Court Chambers – Oral evidence (QQ 118-126) .........................................................................239 National Union of Students; and Office for Students and British Youth Council - Oral evidence (QQ 92-100) ....................................................................240 Office of Students, National Union of Students and British Youth Council - Oral evidence (QQ 92-100)...........................................................................241 Operation Black Vote, Patchwork Foundation and Runnymede Trust - Oral evidence (QQ 169-179) .........................................................................242 Patchwork Foundation, Operation Black Vote and Runnymede Trust - Oral evidence (QQ 169-179) .........................................................................263 Pembrokeshire County Council, London Borough of Camden and Hart District Council– Oral evidence (QQ 45-61) .........................................................264 Stéphane Perrault, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada – Oral evidence (QQ 159-168) .........................................................................................................265 Peterborough City Council and Allerdale Borough Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62- 72) ....................................................................................................282 The Rt Hon. the Lord Pickles – Oral evidence (QQ 31-44) ............................283 Dr Christopher Prosser, British Election Study – Oral evidence (QQ 101-110) .294 Runnymede Trust, Operation Black Vote and Patchwork Foundation - Oral evidence (QQ 169-179) .........................................................................306 Watford Borough Council, Braintree District Council and Woking Borough Council - Oral evidence (QQ147-158) .................................................................307 Woking Borough Council, Watford Borough Council and Braintree District Council - Oral evidence (QQ147-158) .................................................................308 Allerdale Borough Council and Peterborough City Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62- 72) Allerdale Borough Council and Peterborough City Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62-72) Evidence Session No. 5 Heard in Public Questions 62 - 72 Tuesday 29 October 2019 Listen to the meeting Members present: Lord Shutt of Greetland (The Chair); Lord Campbell-Savours; Lord Dykes; Lord Hayward; Lord Janvrin; Lord Lexden; Baroness Mallalieu; Baroness Pidding; Baroness Suttie. Examination of witnesses Mr Mark Emson, Electoral Manager, Peterborough City Council and Ms Lindsay Tomlinson, Electoral Services Manager, Allerdale Borough Council Q62 The Chair: Good afternoon. Welcome to this evidence session of the Select Committee on the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. You have in front of you a list of interests that have been declared by members of the Committee. The meeting is being broadcast live via the parliamentary website. A transcript of the meeting will be taken and published on the Committee website; you will have the opportunity to make corrections to that transcript where necessary. As you are now aware, it seemed to us that, bearing in mind the day it is and what seems to be happening in another place, we ought to put to you some of the questions of the day, which are clearly on your mind. No doubt you will track back to whence you came and think, “How could we cope in these circumstances?” There are three issues, two of which are certainly being discussed in the Commons at the moment, and we do not know what will happen about them. We may well find ourselves having to talk about these things tomorrow or another day. The first is the possibility of 16 year-olds being able to vote in a general election, which may take place in the early days of December. The second is the possibility of EU electors being able to vote in an election in the early days of December. Thirdly, regardless of those two, there are the problems for you of the publication of the electoral register on 1 December, a poll a few days after that, and the issue of poll cards. What happens about late registrations, and all that sort of thing? Those are three things, and you may say, “Aha, but there’s more”. Would Allerdale Borough Council and Peterborough City Council – Oral evidence (QQ 62- 72) you like to talk about that? Indeed, if there are more, tell us about them too. Tell us about the things that are going to concern you on the ground, doing the job at the coalface, for a poll in early December. Ms Lindsay Tomlinson: To touch on the register first, when we publish the new register on 1 December, all the elector numbers will change. If we run poll card data tomorrow, potentially, which is as soon as we possibly can once we know the date for an election, those numbers will be different from the register that will be in use in polling stations on whatever date in December the election is. A real issue for polling station staff and electors will be trying to make sure that they have crossed off the right elector when they go into the station. We were aware of the issue, so to get ready for a potential election we have been keeping up to date with processing all the forms coming in, because we are in the middle of the annual canvass, which is a massive task anyway. That is to make sure, if we possibly can, that we publish our new register at the end of this week and then run the poll card data. Other authorities have a bigger electorate and more complexities than we have, and they may not be in a position to do that. There is certainly a problem and we are aware of it. If we cannot resolve it, we will have to give additional training to our polling station staff, to make them aware of the issues, with a note of what to look out for. It may well lead to a lot more calls to our office on election day just to clear up queries about elector numbers and to check that we have the right people. We are very busy on election day and it is a bit of a madhouse, so it will add extra complexity. The Chair: Your first reaction is early publication. Will that happen throughout the land? Is the Association of Electoral Administrators pushing that as a possibility? Ms Lindsay Tomlinson: It certainly recommended that we should try to do that if we can. However, not everyone will be in a position to do that, because of where they are with their canvass. Everyone does their canvass on slightly different timescales. We started very early and have finished the actual door-knocking stage of the canvass, so we could publish early. Others are slightly behind, or have more processing to do, and may not be able to do it at this stage, which is possibly the situation with Mark in Peterborough. Mr Mark Emson: Yes. It is certainly not one size fits