Phone poll to assess voter apathy

A £20,000 telephone poll is to be carried out to find out why islanders do not vote in Jersey elections.

The committee responsible for the democratic process in the island wants to find out why turnout is low in various island elections.

The Privileges and Procedures committee will meet on Friday to finalise the questions pollsters Mori will ask a random selection of islanders.

The poll is due to take place in July and results out in September.

There was a 33% turnout island-wide in last November's Deputies' election.

The poll follows Constable Derek Gray's election promise while standing for leadership of the committee to find out why islanders were reluctant to use their right to vote.

He said the results were needed before the States debates changes to the way the island is governed.