Parliamentary briefing: Representation of the People Bill (Part 1 Young voters) – Committee Stage (HoC)

Overview

• Extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds will give around an additional 1.7m people the right to vote. The Bill also allows 14- and 15-year-olds to register to vote as attainers – someone who can register in advance of voting age.
• These changes will make the voting age consistent across all elections in the UK, as 16 and 17-year-olds already have the vote for devolved elections in Scotland and Wales.
• The minimum age to stand as a candidate would remain 18.
• Although the Commission doesn’t take a view on the principle of franchise changes, which are significant constitutional questions for Parliament to consider, all those who are eligible to vote in elections should be able to do so freely and without barriers. Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds are the group least likely to be on the electoral register.
• Voting is habit forming. Evidence shows that engaging in democracy early on can encourage future participation. When voting rights are given to younger people, providing clear information and good democratic education become especially important.

The Commission's role

• Our priorities will be to ensure that all newly enfranchised voters know how to register and exercise their right to vote, to provide access to educational material through schools, colleges and communities, and to support the electoral community to deliver franchise changes effectively.
• The Commission provides democratic education resources and training to support educators to deliver engaging, impartial lessons and workshops about democracy.
• This work is designed to help young people learn more about politics, democracy and voting. It equips them with an understanding of the electoral system, giving them the knowledge and confidence they need to take part in elections, and become an engaged voter for years to come. We are scaling up this work to support young people ahead of the introduction of votes at 16.
• We’ve long recommended improvements to democratic education in schools, and the lowering of the voting age makes this more pressing. We were pleased to see democratic education included in the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review.

• Clauses 7 to 14 introduce data protection measures for registered voters under 16, clarifying that no attainer under 16 will appear on the open register. The open register is the version available to organisations for commercial purposes – this is called the ‘edited register’ in Northern Ireland. Only those turning 16 during an election period will appear on the electoral register available to political parties and candidates.
• This protects the registration information of under 16s. It would prevent the public disclosure of their personal data, while still enabling electoral administrators to maintain electoral registers and campaigners to communicate with young voters ahead of elections in which they will be able to vote.
• Part 2 of the Bill makes wider changes to the open register, making it the default position that people will be asked to opt in, rather than out. This protects the data and privacy of young voters. We support this change, and have long called for the open register to be abolished. Electoral registers should primarily be used for electoral purposes, and other limited statutory purposes, such as preventing and detecting crime; checking applications for loans or credit; or jury summoning.

• Clauses 15 and 16 place a duty on local authorities in Great Britain, and Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland, to promote awareness of voter registration among young people in their care.
• These clauses will mean that local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts will be required to help care-experienced young people understand how to register and take part in elections through the services they already use. It also increases alignment across the UK, with similar provisions already applying to devolved elections in Wales and Scotland.
• The Electoral Commission provides democratic engagement resources for local authorities to support their work engaging with voters. Our resources cover how to register to vote and how to participate in elections. We are planning to provide support for local authorities to engage with care-experienced young people.