Commission urges Government to rethink part of electoral registration bill

The Electoral Commission has urged the Government to reconsider part of the Electoral Registration and Administration (ERA) Bill, warning that it posed a "significant risk" to the accuracy of registers.

The watchdog said the relevant wording – which amends the existing Section 9A – could be taken as limiting the current duty on EROs to take ‘all necessary steps’ to maintain the register, to simply undertaking steps that are ‘reasonably practicable’. The Bill is currently before Parliament.

Andrew Scallan, Director of Electoral Administration, said: “This change would pose a significant risk to the completeness and accuracy of registers. We see no good reason to reduce this duty – particularly at a time when we are likely to be moving to Individual Electoral Registration and the accuracy and completeness of the registers will be critical.”

The Electoral Commission made its call as it published a report showing that the majority of electoral registration officers had improved their service to voters but some were still not meeting the required standards.

The watchdog said the performance of EROs in 2011 against its framework had continued the upward trend over recent years.

However, the performance of EROs against performance standard 3 (house to house enquiries) had dropped, with 58 EROs not meeting the standard in 2011.

The Electoral Commission said it wanted to see officer push on to perform beyond the standards.

Scallan said: “It is essential that voters have confidence in the registration process, particularly as Individual Electoral Registration is introduced.

“With this in mind, we have taken a more critical look at the performance of EROs this year. Although most carry out their duties well, more can be done. EROs must have robust systems in place so registers are as complete and accurate as possible before the changes to the registration process are made.”

The Electoral Commission report can be viewed here.