§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie)Elections were held on Thursday, 10 June 2004 for local authorities in England and Wales, for the London assembly, for the Mayor of London and for the European Parliament. Following the passage of the European Parliament and Local Elections (Pilots) Act, voting in four regions of England—the north-east, the north-west, Yorkshire and the Humber and the east midlands—was by postal ballot.
The elections were successfully completed. Six thousand and forty-four councillors were elected in England and Wales, twenty five members of the London assembly were elected, a Mayor of London was elected and 78 United Kingdom members of the European Parliament were elected.
In summary the picture is as follows:
In the four all-postal pilot regions, overall turnout in the European Parliamentary election has more than doubled from that in 1999, going up from about 20 per cent. to 42 per cent.In the other regions, turnout is also up, but by around half on their 1999 figures.Nearly 3 million more people voted in the four pilot regions in these European elections than in 1999.In places with all-postal local elections last week, turnout was substantially higher than elsewhere, with cities such as Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool showing increases in turnout of around half as much again since the last local elections.We believe therefore that the all-postal pilots have shown, on a significantly larger scale than ever before, that a system in which a postal vote is automatically given to every elector positively encourages participation.
The Electoral Commission will evaluate the pilots and its report is due to be published in mid-September. The Commission will examine the extent to which the manner in which the elections were conducted affected the incidence of electoral offences or malpractice. During the period of the elections, a number of allegations of malpractice were made. Allegations of 73WS malpractice and fraud will be investigated. But with a small number of exceptions, such allegations are not reflected in either the experiences of the electoral administrators or reports to the Crown Prosecution Service. Regional returning officers are not reporting a higher volume of problems than in previous elections. For example, the regional returning officer for the North-west, Sir. Howard Bernstein, and the Greater Manchester police issued a joint statement saying:
While the nature of allegations has changed this year, the scale has not increased—if anything, it has lessened.There were also some concerns expressed about the witness signature requirement on the declaration of identity form. Both the Government and the Electoral Commission had reservations about this requirement, and it was almost certainly a factor in limiting turnout. In pilots in local elections in 2003 there was a significantly higher turnout where no witness statement was used. We believe that there are better alternative security arrangements which avoid complexity and avoid the need for an elector to disclose their intention to cast a ballot.
There were, in addition, a number of technical difficulties experienced during the pilots. Returning officers, the Royal Mail and other suppliers have worked very effectively together to overcome these difficulties where they occurred. Of the 14.1 million ballot packs, over 99 per cent. were issued by returning officers by the deadline of midnight on 1 June. The few remaining packs were issued by 5.10 am the following morning. Royal Mail provided an outstanding service in supporting the administrators and suppliers and ensuring their role in the process was delivered effectively.
Our judgment is therefore that these pilots confirm conclusions from previous pilots in 2002 and 2003. These have already been evaluated by the Electoral Commission which concluded that, with some further development, there should in future be a statutory presumption in favour of all-postal voting in local elections. The Government are therefore also confirming its intention for the proposed autumn regional referendums in the three northern regions to be on an all-postal basis.
The success of the all postal pilots will provide a strong base from which we can develop a multi-channel approach to elections in the future, giving further choice and opportunity to electors to have their say. Lessons from the pilots will be incorporated into the Government's wider plans for electoral modernisation, which include both traditional methods of voting and alternatives such as postal balloting and electronic voting.
Whilst testing all postal voting on this scale was bound to present challenges, those challenges were met, and the Government believe that this is a positive result for engagement and participation in the democratic process.
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1999 & 2004 European Election Comparison Region 1999 2004 East Midlands 22.6% 44.6% North East 19.6% 41.5% North West 19.4% 41.5% Yorkshire & Humber 19.6% 42.9% East of England 24.5% 36.6% London 23.0% 37.7% South East 24.7% 36.5% South West 27.6% 37.8% West Midlands 21.0% 36.6% Scotland 24.7% 30.9% Northern Ireland 57.8% 51.7% Wales 29.0% 41.9% Total pilot regions 20.2% 42.6% Total non-pilot regions 25.9% 37.2% Total 24.0% 38.9%
2004 European and Local Comparison Non-Pilot Pilot Percentage Point Difference European 37.2% 42.6% 5.4 Local 37.9% 43.6% 5.7 The table below compares turnouts for a sample of local authorities that did not pilot at the May 2003 elections with the results in the June 2004 elections, when all-postal voting was available.
Local Authority 2003 2004 Percentage Point change Liverpool 21.70% 33.50% 11.8 Leeds 29.80% 43.00% 13.2 Derby 30.60% 46.48% 15.88 The table below compares turnouts for local authorities that piloted in 2003 (when witness statements were not required) and again in 2004 (this time with witness statements required).
Local Authority 2003 2004 Percentage Point change Newcastle 49.90% 46.80% —3.1 Sunderland 47.70% 40.50% —7.2 Gateshead 54.70% 47.71% —6.99 Trafford 52.39% 45% —7.39