Young voters are failing to register

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Thousands of young people could miss out on voting in the General Election because they will not be on the electoral register in time, according to a report from the Electoral Commission (EC).

The independent elections watchdog found the problem was particularly bad among people aged 17 to 24, with 56 per cent not registered, and people from black and minority ethnic communities, where 31 per cent are not registered.

The main problem was people changing addresses, with just 21 per cent of those living at their present address for a year or less being registered to vote.

The commission carried out its research in eight diverse local authorities across the UK, including Glasgow City Council and South Ayrshire Council, to establish how complete their electoral registers were.

The findings come as a performance assessment by the commission revealed that 40 per cent of electoral registration officers are not doing enough to promote registration.

EC chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "A UK general election can be called at any time, and there might only be a few days to register to vote in time, once it has been called. Anyone who isn't sure if they are registered should visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk now.

"We want the next UK government and parliament to look at the way we deliver electoral registration in this country, to ensure that it better serves voters' needs. [And] we need to look at ways of getting more co-ordination and leadership among the 379 local registration officers operating, in most part, in isolation from each other across Great Britain."

Watson added that, while electoral registration officers had a legal duty to promote participation in the registration process, many do not have strategic plans in place to do so.

"This isn't good enough when our registration report shows the need for more targeted action. We have asked every registration officer to make one final push before the general election," she said.