The third part of this series on democracy and independence looks at one of the more important elements: elections and voting.
I’m going to look at some in more detail than others, more for the word count than anything else.
Electoral fraud & voter ID
Electoral fraud is almost non-existent in Wales.
According to the Electoral Commission9, since 2017 there have been (by my count) 53 instances of electoral fraud recorded by the four Welsh police forces, leading to a total of one conviction. ONE. All other incidents were either settled locally (i.e. the offenders being given advice) or subject to no further action.
Only 6 of these instances related to voting. The vast majority of recorded offences (36) related to campaigning – so were committed by candidates, parties and agents (i.e. false statements on nomination and expense forms).
The UK Government decided to find a solution to a problem that didn’t exist and has made it a legal requirement to bring a valid form of photo ID to vote in UK Parliament and Police & Crime Commissioner elections – so our first experience of this in Wales is 2024’s PCC elections.
While photo ID solves the “crisis” of people impersonating other people – and you can apply for a free voter ID – it doesn’t solve the far more widespread electoral fraud committed while campaigning.
I’d like to think the Senedd (pre or post-independence) is smart enough to not bring in voter ID for elections.
The easiest, and most cost-effective, solution would be for voters to have to take a polling card with them to vote (or send it with a postal vote) – it’s currently not a requirement, you only have to give a name and address. Each polling card could have a unique QR code or alike to ensure a person can only vote once; this has already been piloted elsewhere.
9. Electoral Commission. “Electoral fraud data 2017-2023). Available at: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/research-reports-and-data/electoral-fraud-data
Electronic voting
At the moment all votes are on paper (whether in person or via post). Moving to a more high-tech method – whether via electronic voting machines or voting via app/over the internet – would present some advantages.
One is that votes could be counted more quickly – if not instantly. It would also make it easier for people whose first language is neither English nor Welsh to vote, as well as people with sensory disabilities. It might increase turnout by making voting more convenient if you could potentially vote from home.
There are obvious downsides too. The first is whether there would be confidence in the results. At present, tellers can watch votes being counted and ballot boxes being emptied in person, but you can’t do that with e-voting. Similarly, there are security concerns – a voting machine or electoral server can be hacked or have a bug; pen and paper with tamper-proof sealed boxes can’t.
It’s the same for assisted/electronic counting. Many countries use electronic counting – either as some sort of scanner, or a tallying machine. Scotland has used electronic counting for local and Scottish Parliament elections since 2007 and it’s particularly useful where complicated electoral systems like Single Transferable Vote (STV) are used.
Also, e-voting systems usually use closed-source software supplied by tech companies and likely to come with an expensive licence to use it. This isn’t the case with open-source software (like Linux) where you can inspect the code yourself if you have the technical know-how.
Candidate deposits
A deposit is a sum of money a candidate puts in with their nomination papers. If they receive above a certain vote percentage (usually 5% of votes cast) they get this money back.
There are no deposits to stand for a community council or local authority. There may be an argument to introduce one for local authorities/county councils or, potentially, directly elected mayors.
There’s a £500 deposit to stand as an MP or Member of the Senedd. The deposit to stand as a Police & Crime Commissioner is £5,000.
Keeping a deposit system – or increasing it (whether by a higher monetary value or a higher vote share threshold for candiates to retainthem) – might discourage parties from putting up poor quality “paper candidates” (candidates that they know stand no realistic chance of being elected), but it would present a barrier to candidates with low or fixed incomes.
As losing a deposit has a stigma attached, it dampens political plurality by discouraging smaller parties and novelty candidates from standing.
Political broadcasts, election literature & election information
At present, political parties are allocated a set time, free of charge, by public service broadcasters – particularly during election campaigns or in response to (UK) budgets.
Should rules around party political broadcasts be loosened in Wales (to effectively allow paid-for political advertising)? Should public funding be set aside for political parties (based on their electoral success) – as in New Zealand – to cover the cost of election literature and producing political broadcasts?
Should we do something similar to Switzerland and send a single booklet to each household – with space set aside for political parties (or campaigns in a referendum) – containing all the relevant election information?
Could we copy Ireland and, during election periods, allow political parties to put temporary signs on lamp posts (instead of front gardens)?
Â
