Scottish Parliament Political Parties Panel meeting minutes: 16 May 2022

George Adam MSP (GA) said the Scottish Government was planning a consultation on electoral reform in the autumn of this year and sought the views of the panel on matters to be included. He was looking for ways to put the voter first, to improve accessibility and to remove barriers to voting. He wished to see the public have co-design of the process and to ensure as many people as possible engaged. The panel discussed a paper which highlighted areas where Scottish Government were planning to consult.

General reflections - Andy O’Neill (AON) reminded the panel of the Electoral Commission’s statutory duty to report on the elections and said all views and comments were helpful. The Commission was presently surveying candidates, the public, Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers and Police SPOCs (Single Point of Contact) in addition to gathering information for its report via various means prior to a likely publication of the report in mid-September. Views received today would form part of the ingathering of information process.

Chris Highcock (CH) said the election had been organisationally challenging due to the pandemic aftermath and the unpredictability of restrictions and staff availability, but the overall impression was that the elections were well delivered and there had been a good standard of participation.

(CH) said the suite of directions given had become fairly standard over the last 10 years and provided consistency in voter facing elements, such as key dates for postal vote issue. He said the role of the EMB had become more fixed in the electoral landscape with EROs and electoral staff in touch for advice and guidance.

Pete Wildman (PW) remarked the elections had been one of the most smoothly run which he had been involved in. An agreed consistent date on second interim issue of postal ballots greatly helped. The Household Notification Letter sent out in February had resulted in a spike of postal vote applications shortly after, in his view, likely reducing the number of later applications. Postal vote rejection letters would be sent out by 27 May.

(CH) said it was essential that candidates and agents understood what was asked for and some forms required clarity of design, such as the home address form. He could only speak for City of Edinburgh Council but said the larger parties had allowed electronic submission first. (AON) said all councils offered early electronic submission and an overwhelming majority of candidates found this helpful and had taken it up. Paul Moat (PM) asked if the home address form could be reviewed so that it was less confusing but echoed the view expressed by others that electronic pre-checks of candidate’s nominations forms had been invaluable and hoped they would continue.

(CH) was still looking through statistics but said the volume was not quite as high as last year’s election. The postal voting figure was now not far off one quarter of the electorate. Rejection rates were slightly lower than in 2017 (SXM) felt there should be an emergency proxy provision for anyone who found their postal ballot had not arrived in time, given that a postal vote pack could be cancelled. (CH) said they were in the hands of the Royal Mail and with one million pieces of mail going out some of loss of mail will be experienced, but if people did not complain until after the election, there was nothing they could do. If people had got in touch earlier, a replacement pack could be sent out.

(AON) said the Electoral Commission had observers at several of the council areas both on polling day and at the counts. Localised issues were dealt with but there was nothing which grew to any great problem. Sue Bruce (SB) agreed and said she had seen a trouble-free Election Day with a steady trickle of voters and Presiding Officers had dealt with all issues in their stride. She felt this was testament to the preparation put in and resulted in a well-run effective election.

(CH) said the count was the final element of what had gone before and could only work well if other steps were in place. The count solution had begun over two years earlier and had been a huge logistical operation to ensure all had equipment and training to deliver an electronic count. There had been challenges, technically and administratively, but had been delivered with results that all can have confidence in. James Newman (JN) echoed this and said a detailed survey of Returning Officers would be made so that lessons could be learned for the next e-counting project.

Following liaison with SPOCs, (AON) said there seemed to have been fewer allegations and the biggest cause of complaint had been a lack of imprints on printed campaign materials. (CH) said using a single printer for the whole of Scotland meant poll cards and postal votes had arrived on doorsteps at the same time across Scotland. Early intervention had ensured a sufficient supply of paper had been purchased well ahead of need.

(SXM) raised a number of issues regarding campaign expenditure guidance and the Electoral Commission’s view with regard to what constituted candidate expenditure. (AON) indicated that the Electoral Commission would be happy to discuss the issue with (SXM).

(AON) said the rejection rate of votes had fallen slightly and the instance of multiple ‘X’s was slightly down although this could, as (SXM) suggested, be attributed to the fact fewer wards had more than one candidate and (SXM) felt there should be a review of how the STV rules work. He thought an argument could be made that you can reflect someone’s intention by giving a fraction of a vote. In the case of three crosses, 0.333 recurring could be given to each of the candidates. He also raised the issue of alphabetic bias and possible alternatives.

Maria McCann (MMcC) had issued a written update to the panel and had nothing further to add but was happy to respond to any questions.

Hannah Standring (HS) indicated that a short written updated had been submitted to the Panel, advised all that the Elections Bill was now an Act and offered to respond to any questions on the update.

Isabel Drummond-Murray (ID-M) updated the Panel that Boundary Scotland was preparing for a Scottish Parliament review in the autumn.

Rachel Winham would provide a written update when she returned from annual leave.

(AON) asked parties to remind candidates that the spending returns were due on 10 June and advice surgery time slots were available for booking. Shaun McNally, the Commission’s new Chief Executive, had now been in post since the last meeting and hoped to attend a future meeting of the SP PPP.

(SXM) said the parties had discussed and would prefer a hybrid meeting going forward. (AON) said he would investigate how to provide that but if it was not possible, it would remain in a virtual format. He would suggest dates and circulate for approval.