§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his policy requiring electoral registration officers to issue lists of postal voters who have voted prior to polling day in general, European, local council and regional elections and referendums; and if he will estimate the timescale for introducing such a requirement. [159041]
§ Phil HopeOrdinarily, our electoral arrangements do not provide for the release by returning officers, before the close of poll, of "polling progress information" showing lists of electors who have voted. However, political parties have tended to make arrangements to identify electors who have cast their votes at polling stations on Polling Day. Such arrangements are not possible at an all-postal election.
272WAgainst this background, some local authorities were permitted in 2002 and 2003 to provide polling progress information before the close of poll at local election pilots. The European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act 2004 requires that such information must be provided by returning officers in this year's four pilot regions to persons or organisations specified in the pilot order made under its provisions.
Before taking decisions about introducing such a requirement in elections or referendums more generally, we will want to have careful regard to the outcome of the pilots undertaken in this year's combined European Parliamentary and local elections and to the Electoral Commission's evaluation of those pilots.