Objective: Accessible registration and voting

Free and fair elections depend on all people who are eligible and want to vote being able to do so. With this goal, we are striving to:

• increase levels of voter registration, especially amongst groups that currently have difficulty engaging in the process
• remove barriers, especially those that affect people who currently have difficulty trying to cast their vote.

We are working to achieve these outcomes through collaboration with policy makers and other partners to identify barriers to participation and propose solutions. We are directly supporting people who have difficulty engaging in the process, with tailored accessible information and learning resources, and targeted public awareness activity.
 

• Our latest evidence shows that between 8-9 million people in Great Britain are either missing or incorrectly registered. As well as advocating for registration reform, ahead of the elections, we ran a voter registration campaign to encourage the public to ensure they were correctly registered ahead of the deadline. This was supported by our Your Vote is Yours Alone campaign, which raises awareness of voter fraud and how voters can protect their vote. 
• Planning and implementing measures in the Elections Act has been a priority for the Commission. The legislation includes measures that impact voters directly, some of which came into force at the 2023 local elections taking place in parts of England. Ensuring voters are aware of the changes is fundamental to supporting their confidence and participation in our electoral system. 
• We prepared for the introduction of the voter ID requirement. In January, the Commission launched a wide-reaching public awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the requirement and reminding the public to bring it with them when they voted. Our work helped voters understand which forms of ID can be used and supported those without an accepted form of ID to understand how and when to apply for free ID. 
• We worked with local councils and civil society organisations to support those less likely to have an accepted form of ID, so that they were aware of the free ID and applied in time. 
• The Commission ran a thorough consultation on the new accessibility measures before drafting its guidance, working closely with charities and organisations representing disabled voters. We also shared details with disabled voters of the new accessibility rules, which increase the range of assistance available to them in the polling station.  
• Within the scope of our role, we continued to work with local authorities, police, and parliamentarians to protect the system against electoral fraud. This included running, with the National Police Chiefs Council, the annual conference of Single Points of Contact within police forces that lead on fraud, and engaging with Lord Hayward on his secrecy of the ballot Private Members’ Bill. 
• These campaigns and voter communication around the Digital Registration Number, helped to support the successful delivery of the local elections in Northern Ireland.
• Our learning work aims to promote greater consistency in political literacy education and increase political knowledge and understanding amongst young people. Over 220 schools signed up to take part in Welcome to Your Vote Week in January.

The target for voter registration was not met this year. There are a number of factors that could have negatively impacted this KPM, some of which were external and some relate to the campaign including target setting itself. Notably, there was a reduction in campaign spend ahead of these elections and in the early awareness-raising phase. Since the polls, we have reviewed all data to ensure ongoing efficacy of our advertising, and our target-setting processes, to take these insights into account in planning future campaigns.

• We will be evaluating the May 2023 public awareness campaigns for voter ID and registration, to identify learnings and opportunities for improvement. We will be refreshing the creative approach to our voter registration campaign in time for the May 2024 elections.
• With the support of civil society partners, we will evaluate the tailored information we co-created for each key group most likely to be impacted by the new voter ID requirements. This will include refining resources to make them suitable for future years and identifying any gaps in our provision. 
• In the autumn, we will publish election reports for England and Northern Ireland, reflecting on how the May 2023 elections were run and recommending changes where necessary. This will include an assessment of the implementation of the new voter ID and polling station accessibility provisions. 
• We will work to prepare voters, administrators and the wider electoral community for further changes coming from the Elections Act, including updating guidance for those responsible for implementing the changes. This will include an extension to the franchise through changes to the overseas voter rules. 
• We will pilot the inclusion of accessibility information as part of the online election information we provide, including our online polling station finder. This will further reduce pressure on local councils. If successful, we will roll this out throughout the UK. We will continue to extend our ‘youth voice’ work, building on our current activity in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to ensure our work on registration and voting reflects the needs and views of young people. 
• We will continue to maintain contingency plans for unscheduled electoral events, including a UK Parliamentary general election and a Northern Ireland Assembly election. 
• We will finalise development of feasibility studies on a range of flexible voting options, exploring how new ways of voting could be implemented.
• We expect to appear before the Levelling Up Committee to expand on our written evidence for its inquiry examining voter registration, and will outline our proposals for reforming the system.