Addressing the challenges of accuracy and completeness in Northern Ireland

The data and findings presented in this study further supports our position, first set out in 2015, that, as in Great Britain, the electoral registration system in Northern Ireland requires modernisation to provide the best possible opportunity for ensuring that as many people as possible are correctly registered.

The drop in accuracy and completeness from 2015 presents a return to levels seen in our 2012 assessment. The last canvass to take place in Northern Ireland was in 2013 and was successful in improving the quality of the register.

The evidence from 2018 suggests that the continuous registration system, despite improvements since 2012, still struggles to deal with population movement in a way that maximises the accuracy and completeness of the register in the period between each canvass.

There is another canvass scheduled for 2020 and this presents a timely opportunity to improve the quality of the registers in Northern Ireland. However, the canvass should not be the end of this process.

The availability of online registration provides an opportunity to explore alternative methods of registering attainers without necessarily re-establishing the resource intensive schools programme previously run by the Electoral Office.

We are aware that the Chief Electoral Officer is actively engaging with the examinations body CCEA, the Department of Education, voluntary sectors and parties in Northern Ireland to improve registration among young people. This is a positive example of collaboratively working to improve electoral registration by more effectively using resources already available to engage with young people as they become attainers and we welcome this.  

The Chief Electoral Officer should also further consider how targeted household canvassing could be incorporated into current registration activities. For example, as a follow up to the letters issued to electors as a result of information, provided by data-sharing organisations, indicating there has been a change at a property.

In addition to these immediate changes, we believe that there should be more fundamental changes to modernise the registration system in Northern Ireland, and in Great Britain, to ensure that registers remain as accurate and complete as possible in the period between each canvass. 

Our vision of a modern electoral register is one which:

  • uses trusted public data to keep itself accurate and complete throughout the year without relying solely on action by individuals
  • makes it as easy as possible for electors to ensure their own registration record is accurate and complete, particularly ahead of elections and referendums

We have published the findings from a series of feasibility studies exploring how electoral registration reforms could be delivered, to help inform the debate about registration reform. These studies looked at the potential for giving Electoral Registration Officers across the UK access to data from other public service providers; integration of electoral registration into other public service transactions; and automatic or more automated forms of registration.

The options explored in the studies could help address some of the specific challenges highlighted in this research. For example:

  • for people who have recently changed address, including those who move more frequently, registering to vote may not always be an immediate priority. Data from the housing sector – such as data held by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive - would support efforts to ensure that the register better captures recent home movers. The Chief Electoral Officer has already been working to access this data and the findings in this study emphasise the need for this data to be made available to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI) as soon as possible
  • integrating electoral registration applications into other public service transactions could make it easier for individuals to keep their registration details up to date and accurate. This could be particularly effective for those who have moved recently and who are in the process of updating their details with other agencies and public bodies
  • making better use of existing public data sources could also help to improve levels of completeness among some of the specific under-registered groups identified in this study. Data from the education sector – such as information held by the Education and Skills Funding Agency Learning Records Service, which collects data relating to learners registering for relevant post-14 qualifications – could help EONI identify attainers and other young people. Also, data from the Department for Work and Pensions could potentially be used by EONI to register young people automatically when they are allocated their National Insurance number ahead of their 16th birthday

Our feasibility studies found that these reforms were feasible from a technical and operational perspective and could be implemented without radically altering the structure of the electoral registration system in the UK.

While reforms of this nature undoubtedly raise important questions about data sharing, data protection and the implications of automatic registration, they offer considerable potential to address the challenges of achieving accurate and complete registers in Northern Ireland.

We want to encourage a wider debate on the potential benefits of further modernisation and electoral registration reform and look forward to discussing the findings of our feasibility studies with governments and other interested groups.