Why the Register matters

The missing names on the Electoral Register became an issue at last week's PMQs. The coalition government has proposed cutting the number of seats in the House of Commons. It seeks to have fewer seats - but which are more or less equal in size. It is pushing forward with plans to redraw the boundaries quickly - in time for the next General Election. [Most Reviews take longer than a single Parliament - the existing procedure has a politically neutral Boundary Commission produce reports which can then be challenged and when needed public hearings held before a final recommendation is made - the express review will do away with those important safeguards].

In the USA the allocation of House of Representative seats is based on the census. It bears no relation to the number of people who have (or haven't registered) to vote. Currently it is estimated that there are 3.5 million people missing from the registers - so a redistribution based on the existing, flawed registers, could lead to unfairness. As Harriet Harman pointed out - this could exclude "a third of all black people, half of all young people, and half of all private sector tenants" - [based on the Electoral Commissions studies into non-registration].

The Electoral Commission

The conduct of elections has been a concern in many countries over recent years. In the UK the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 created the Electoral Commission. It is an independent body - members of staff may not be appointed if they have been politically active in the previous ten years - a restriction which has received much criticism. The Political Parties and Elections Bill will address this criticism (http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2007-08/politicalpartiesandelections.html - 2nd Reading was given this Monday, but this will be a carry over bill.

The task of the commission is to -

• register political parties
• make sure people understand and follow the rules on party and election finance
• publish details of where parties and candidates get money from and how they spend it
• set the standards for running elections and report on how well this is done
• make sure people understand it is important to register to vote, and know how to vote
• make sure boundary arrangements for local government in England are fair

The Commission's informative website can be found at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/. Any serious student of British Politics - and anyone engaged in political activity withinthe UK - needs to visit this site!

A House of Commons paper on the Commission is available at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-03127.pdf