East: Technical voting

Jayne Evans
Producer
The Politics Show East

Your comments on the programme

More options than just Polling Stations

Nothing much has changed for over a 100 years. On election day voters turn out to their local church hall or sports centre, there they put a cross on a piece of paper and then post it into a sealed box.

It is not exactly high tech or 21st Century and neither is it particularly convenient for many people.

Polling station voting takes a certain amount of enthusiasm and spare time which are two things in short supply among a large proportion of British people.

In the 2005 General Election 61% of the electorate voted, the third lowest turn out since 1847.

Or put another way, just over 17m people who were registered to vote decided not to.

This apathy is of great concern to all political parties who are pondering on the best way to encourage more people to exercise their democratic right to vote.

The Electoral Commission says research suggests younger adults are acquiring a habit of non-voting and this is a problem that needs addressing otherwise election turnouts will continue to shrink.

Sam Younger, Chairman of The Electoral Commission, says: "If the first few elections adults experience are crucial in shaping their political outlook including the value of voting, then all of us with an interest in the health of our democracy need to redouble our efforts to reverse this trend before the next general election, or we risk losing that generation for good."

The possibilities of voting by text, e mail or phone are being explored but security and voter confidence would be huge issues.

The government is very much in favour of promoting postal voting and has not ruled out doing away with polling stations altogether, much to the horror of the Conservative party.

The Liberal Democrats argue that weekend voting would be one answer to reviving voters' enthusiasm.

Since 2001 a postal vote has been an option open to everyone; before that date people had to have a very good reason to apply for one.

Although the postal option is becoming more and more popular public confidence in the system is shaky, particularly after the much publicised case of electoral fraud in Birmingham during the 2004 local elections.

New security measures have been introduced since then and it's expected that more people than ever will vote by post in the local elections in May 2006.

But research suggests most of those who apply for a postal vote are those who would have voted anyway.

Persuading the public that their opinion can make a difference and that they can cast their vote quickly, conveniently and securely is not going to be an easy task.

The Politics Show

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Politics Show, Sunday 30 April 2006 at 12.00pm.

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