Westminster Hall Debate, Conduct of elections, 20 March 2024

• Councils across England are responsible for maintaining electoral registers and delivering a myriad of local, regional, and national elections and referenda. The legislation governing elections exists in over 25 different statutes creating considerable complexity and divergence across different polls.
• Changes such as the move from household to individual registration and the introduction of a range of new polls (mayoral, combined authorities, PCC etc.) has made the role of registration and returning officers increasing challenging. New requirements such as voter identification and new absent voting processes under the Elections Act 2022 and the removal of the Fixed Term Parliament Act have created additional burdens for already overstretched electoral teams.
• In addition, the way people vote has changed. Approximately one in five voters now vote by post at general elections and in the run up to general elections councils experience a huge increase in registration applications. This pushes additional costs onto local authorities, as registration and absent voting administration costs fall to the local authority and are not reimbursed by the Government as other general election costs are.
• Councils work hard to ensure that scheduled and unscheduled elections are delivered despite challenging circumstances. Electoral teams are often very small, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain polling staff. Low pay, long and unsociable hours, and increasingly complex paperwork and responsibilities make polling roles unattractive. It’s vital that councils have experienced and well-trained staff to administer the poll to deliver safe elections that the public can have confidence in.
• The introduction of Voter ID at the May 2023 elections saw over 14,000 people unable to vote at polling stations due to the new requirement, with some groups being more impacted than others. The LGA supports the Electoral Commission's recommendation in September 2023 that the list of permitted photo ID should be broadened to ensure eligible voters are not deterred from voting by the ID requirement and the House of Lords Constitution Committee’s recommendation that councils should receive additional funding to support targeted awareness raising for those in their community who are less likely to have voter ID or be aware of the requirement.
• The Government did not accept either recommendation and will continue to fund only 14p per elector for councils with their first voter ID elections this year. Councils with elections last year will receive no awareness-raising funding.

Voter ID and new accessibility requirements at polling stations were implemented in May 2023. In December 2022, the LGA called for voter ID to be delayed because implementation would breach the Gould principle, which states that election law should not be changed within six months of an election it will impact. 

Several reviews of the May 2023 elections were published in September. Key takeaways from these reports include concerns about core staffing capacity, availability of polling staff and lack of public awareness of changes to voting processes. According to the Electoral Commission over 14,000 people were turned away from polling stations because of voter ID and certain groups were more impacted. We expressed our concerns at this report.

In addition, the House of Lord Constitutional Committee reported on their inquiry on the implementation Voter ID. Key areas that the inquiry commented on was the need for a fully funded, tailored local engagement campaigns to promote voter ID requirements to avoid lower turnouts; full funding for new requirements beyond initial implementation; and consideration of the option to have digital voter authority certificate to allow for a later deadline for applications.

Councils have risen to the challenge to deliver these new Voter ID requirements smoothly and this is a testament to the hard work of local election teams across the country. They also did all they could with the resources they had to raise awareness of the changes in their local communities.

However, it is a fundamental part of the democratic process that elections can run smoothly and effectively where every citizen is able to exercise their right to vote. It is therefore of concern to councils that this review has found that some groups may have been more impacted than others by the introduction of Voter ID, with a small number being left unable to vote.

Councils know their communities best and with the right resources are a key part of the solution to tackle a lack of awareness of Voter ID requirements in local areas. This is particularly important as we approach a general election, where turnout will likely be much higher. We hope that the Government act decisively to address any concerns the Commission raise.

The Electoral Commission also recommended that the list of permitted photo ID should be broadened and the LGA supported this recommendation. 

Officers propose to continue to engage with the department through the new minister, Simon Hoare MP, and at an officer level to raise the genuine concerns of members, EROs and ROs around the risks to electoral delivery and how to mitigate them. Officers propose to commission or draft a set of surveys on capacity, resilience and funding registration and electoral services, with a view to creating a credible evidence base for future analysis and lobbying. Alongside this, the LGA will continue to provide resources and events for elected members to increase their awareness and understanding of ongoing electoral reform.

Complexity of legislation: Over 25 different statutes and additional regulations govern elections, creating considerable complexity and divergence between different polls. In 2020, the Law Commission formally recommended that the UK move away from “election-specific” legislation and rationalise into a single, consistent legislative framework for elections.

Unsuitability of funding arrangements: The current funding arrangements for registration and electoral services is based on the division of electoral registration costs (registering councils responsibility), and election costs (returning officer responsibility, reimbursed by the relevant public body). This division no longer accurately reflects the drivers of costs, for example increased registration and absent vote applications in the run up to an election. Refusal by the DLUHC Electoral Claims Unit to take responsibility for election-led registration costs means that councils are cross-subsidising national and PCC elections. 

Capacity of core staff: The role of electoral registration officers and returning officers has become increasingly complex over recent years, including moving from household to individual registration and the introduction of new polls (mayoral, combined authorities, PCC etc.). This has stretched core electoral capacity and is compounded by the removal of the Fixed Term Parliament Act, creating the possibility of snap general elections. Electoral services teams are typically small and lack resilience as their specialist functions cannot be filled by temporary staff. A recent survey found that only two thirds of respondent councils met the staff/elector ratio set by the Electoral Commission in 2008. This ratio is due to be updated and the ratio of staff to electors increased to account for new requirements.

Increasing difficulty with core staffing: In our recent survey over half of respondents had had at least one vacancy in the last year and two thirds of those had found it difficult to fill those posts. About 10 per cent said vacancies had been held as part of departmental budget freezes due to financial constraints across the council. Less than half of staff were fully certified electoral administrators.

Increasing difficulty with staffing polls: Low pay, long and unsociable hours, and increasingly complex paperwork and responsibilities make polling roles unattractive. Of our recent sample of electoral services only 58 per cent were confident they would be able to recruit sufficient staff for the May 2023 elections. Several expressed concerns that government set pay bands for PCC and national elections were expected to be too low to entice staff; leaving the council to pick up additional pay costs. Additionally, many commented the risk of errors due to inexperienced staff and a raft of new requirements around voter ID and postal voting was a concern.

The LGA has previously engaged with the Electoral Commission and DLUHC on this point and proposed several measures to improve polling station staffing, including:

• an uplift in pay for polling station roles to account for additional responsibilities introduced in the Elections Act 2022
• allowing councils to claim for reserve poll clerks and presiding officers as a PCC or national poll cost, which will be allowed for the first time at the May Police and Crime Commissioner elections
• a national campaign to promote polling station roles, in a similar manner to the recent magistrate recruitment campaign.

The LGA continues to engage with the Government to raise the genuine concerns of members, EROs and ROs around the risks to electoral delivery and how to mitigate them. This work includes commissioning a set of surveys on capacity, resilience and funding registration and electoral services, with a view to creating a credible evidence base for future analysis and lobbying. Alongside this, the LGA will continue to provide resources and events for elected members to increase their awareness and understanding of ongoing electoral reform.

Name: Hannah Sadik
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