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Meeting of the Parliament 19 January 2012

19 Jan 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Local Government Elections 2012

Mackay, Derek SNP Renfrewshire North and West Watch on SPTV

I will expand on the awareness campaign later in my speech, but it will be broken down into phases and will involve a partnership between the Electoral Commission and councils across Scotland.

The testing regime for the new e-counting system is important. Improvements have been made to the system since the previous count. As we all know, a manual count would take many days to conduct.

The new regime has been thoroughly considered. The system has been subjected to more rigorous testing, which should protect against the failures of the past. The testing started in January 2011 and culminated in the delivery of a bulk stress test of the system over two weeks, when more than 500,000 ballot papers were successfully scanned and counted. Councillors, the Electoral Commission, academics, the Open Rights Group, the former Local Government and Communities Committee and representatives from the press and the media have all attended tests of the system.

The system provides greater transparency. Every part of the process is fully visible to candidates and agents. Large display monitors are used to inform observers of count progress, and adjudication staff and returning officers use dual-facing monitors in executing all decisions. All 32 local authorities have committed to using the new system and we are now preparing to deliver training to the staff who will operate the system during the count.

The use of electronic counting has resulted in the capturing of a considerable amount of new data. In the 2012 election, we will publish more information than before, including detailed information on the number of preferences that were given to candidates at polling stations.

Candidates’ confidence in the system is important. We seek to build greater transparency, while of course ensuring the secrecy of the ballot. The availability of more detailed information is paramount in providing reassurance that the system has produced a correct and accurate result and in instilling transparency in the process and confidence in the election’s overall outcome. We are therefore considering the practical and legal issues that are involved in publishing full preference tracking at ward level, with a view to introducing legislation that allows the retrospective release of that data from May’s elections. That matter is being raised with the political parties panel.

Turnout might be an issue—the decoupling of elections might contribute to that. A strong and vibrant democracy relies on people from all walks of life using their vote. Councils will run their own campaigns and the Electoral Commission will run a public awareness campaign.

For the first time, the commission will have a statutory responsibility to promote public awareness at local government elections. It will run its campaign in two phases—voter registration, which will be given a clear focus, and voter information. The registration campaign will be followed by voter information, in the media and in local information booklets, that is aimed at ensuring that electors have the necessary information to cast their votes under STV. As politicians and parties, we too have a duty to reinvigorate the electorate with positive campaigning and policies that capture the imagination of the public to participate in the democracy that we cherish.

Once the votes have been cast, they will need to be counted. I know that the timing of the count has provoked a certain amount of discussion over the years. The electoral management board has issued a consultation document to seek views on when the votes in this May’s elections should be counted. I understand that the board’s convener is considering issuing a direction to local returning officers to ensure consistency in arrangements across Scotland. Regardless of the consultation’s outcome, the political parties panel considers that a consistent approach is important.

Over the past five years, the Parliament has embraced the Gould recommendations with a high degree of consensus. We may legitimately disagree on political matters, but we have worked together to implement the largely administrative recommendations that fall within the Parliament’s powers. However, there is one key recommendation on which no action has been taken: the full devolution of the Scottish Parliament and local government elections. It is absurd that the Parliament is not responsible for the election of its members and that we are unable to give 16 and 17-year-olds their democratic right to vote, even when that is the will of the Parliament.

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Meeting of the Parliament 19 January 2012

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