North Vote Reform Hurts Poor.

By Brendan Anderson

NEW measures aimed at tackling voting fraud in the North have disenfranchised people living in poorer areas, according to a report just released by the Electoral Commission.

The commission’s report, published Tuesday, was due to be released earlier this year but publication was delayed until after the election.

In the past, one voter registration application form was given to each household regardless of the number of potential voters living there.

Details for the whole family were generally written in by the “head of the household” ahead of a forthcoming election. 

The new system requires each person to register individually, every year. Voters also need to produce photographic identification at polling stations. 

According to the Electoral Commission, the new method “tended to have an adverse impact” on the disadvantaged, marginalized and “hard-to-reach” groups.

This, said the commission, meant young people, students, people with learning disabilities and those living in poorer areas were “less likely to register.” Several political parties expressed fears before the election that marginal seats could be lost after thousands of people either failed to register or registered incorrectly under the new system. 

The commission’s report, however, was not totally composed of bad news. The head of the Electoral Commission, Seamus Magee, said more than 70% of people surveyed felt the new measures had “instilled greater confidence in the democratic process.”

“On the other hand, there are some negatives. One of those is that the individual registration has tended to make it more difficult for young people in particular and for people with disabilities to register. The challenge that we have is to address those particular issues, to ensure the registration rate, which is currently around 88%, is up as close into the 90s as we can.”

The chief electoral officer has now suggested that part of the old system be reinstated in a bid to retrieve the 150,000 names which have disappeared from the register.

Sinn Fein MP for mid-Ulster Martin McGuinness said it had been obvious to anyone involved in the recent election campaign that the current system was “deeply flawed.”

“It is my intention to meet with the Electoral Commission in the time ahead to discuss the many problems which we encountered during the recent campaign. These problems, be they registration or ID, can be directly traced to the SDLP and Unionist-sponsored legislation under which the register was complied and the election fought,” he said.