Report on the May 2022 elections in Wales

People had high levels of satisfaction with the process of registering to vote and voting. Our research shows that:

• 81% of people across Wales were satisfied with the process of registering to vote.
• 95% of people who voted were satisfied with the process of voting.
• 71% of people said they were confident that the elections were well-run; however, 10% were not confident.

These figures are broadly consistent with findings following the most recent comparable elections in 2017 and the 2021 Senedd election.

Our research shows that the majority of people could obtain information on the candidates standing for election. We found that:

• 41% of people said it was fairly easy and 18% said it was very easy to obtain the information they required; 19% said it was fairly difficult and 9% said it was very difficult.
• 45% of people said that they had enough information about the candidates to make an informed decision when voting, but just over a third (34%) tended to disagree.

In 2022 there was a decrease of 4% in turnout for the local government elections (38%) compared to 2017 (42%). People were most likely to tell us that they didn’t vote because of:

• lack of time/too busy (18%)
• not interested/fed up with politics (12%)
• vote wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome/ doesn't count (11%)
• medical/health reasons not related to COVID-19 (9%)
• didn't like the candidates/parties/they didn't represent my views (8%)

94% of people who voted said they were able to use their preferred method of voting (in person, by post or by proxy). This figure was lower amongst in-person voters with a disability or health condition (82%).

In March 2022, Welsh Government, through the Wales Electoral Coordination Board, requested that a trial group of Returning Officers make a change to the postal voting statement to include an additional “today’s date” box. The aim was to reduce the postal vote rejection rate due to errors by an elector in providing their personal identifiers (specifically their date of birth). 13 local authorities (out of 22) made this change to the statement.

In the trial areas where the postal voting statement was modified, there was a 0.8% percentage point increase in the rejection rate compared with the most recent comparable elections in 2017. In non-trial areas, there was a 0.2% percentage point reduction in the rejection rate compared with 2017.

There is no pattern evident in the data to indicate why this increase may have occurred. We know from our other research that the majority of people who vote by post do so for most elections, so may have become used to using the unmodified version of the form. Welsh Government should consider the available data carefully in making any decision to legislate for permanent changes to the statement.

We will also continue to explore ways of improving the electoral system to meet voters’ needs. As part of this, we (working alongside the Wales Electoral Coordination Board) will consider evidence about whether changes to postal voting documents or processes could help to reduce the number of postal ballot packs that are rejected at future elections.

Ahead of the elections we re-ran our ‘Welcome to Your Vote’ paid voter registration campaign, targeted at newly enfranchised 16-17 year olds, alongside our ‘Got 5?’ campaign targeting the whole electorate. Alongside the campaigns, we held awareness raising events including ‘Welcome to Your Vote Week’ and ‘Welcome to Your Vote Day’ targeted at each of the newly enfranchised groups.

During the campaign period, a total of 38,438 people in Wales applied to register to vote, including 3,596 16-17 year olds and 663 qualifying foreign citizens.1 The most applications were from citizens of Hong Kong, USA, Turkey and the Philippines.2

Alongside our work to encourage newly enfranchised groups to register, we worked with partner organisations to explain the democratic process to other groups who are typically under-registered or disengaged. Our partners included the British Deaf Association Wales, Mencap Cymru, Welsh Women’s Aid, Llamau and Gypsies and Travellers Wales.

Ahead of the elections, the Welsh Government provided funding to local authorities to recruit Electoral Registration Support Officers, to help improve registration rates among newly enfranchised and under-registered groups. We worked closely with these officers via the Wales Electoral Coordination Board communications sub-group and the Welsh Government registration partnership. This additional resource was welcomed by local authorities and was crucial in delivering key areas of work to local target groups, especially young people. The strongly held opinion of those local authorities that we talked to was that this resource should continue to be made available to ensure that the foundations already laid are built upon and this important work can continue.

• Our research shows a clear difference in turnout amongst those under the age of 35 compared to all other older age groups.
• Approximately 1 in 5 (12,338) newly enfranchised 16-17 year olds registered to vote ahead of this election.3

Ahead of the elections, we developed our democratic education work to help young people understand how to get involved in the democratic process. We published updates to our resources for educators, all linked to the current Welsh curriculum.

We partnered with The Democracy Box and have been working with the project’s young co-creators and focus group participants aged 16-26 to gain feedback on our resources for young people.

Feedback from young people and partners involved in our education work has consistently shown:

• a lack of understanding as to how to participate in our democratic process
• a lack of motivation to engage in elections due to insufficient knowledge about candidates, parties and the process in general.

Our Public Opinion Tracker 2022 research (carried out in February 2022) also found that:

• 77% of parents think it’s important that children learn the basics about politics, voting and democracy at school
• more parents think the information their children get around politics, voting and democracy at school is insufficient (31%) than sufficient (22%)

The Democracy Box’s Youth Voice evaluation report recommended that:

"Democratic education should start young and be embedded into the curriculum, but continue as young people go on to do different things in different places in both formal and informal education settings and beyond.”

The New Curriculum for Wales aims to support learners to become ‘ethical, informed citizens who understand and exercise their human and democratic responsibilities and rights.’ There is therefore an opportunity for democratic awareness to be woven consistently through education, rather than being a standalone topic during an election.

We will continue to build on the work already delivered by engaging further with young people and educators across Wales, and with the Welsh Government, to identify more themes and topics our resources can address and to provide teacher training. We will work closely with the Welsh Government to ensure our resources can effectively support the delivery of democratic education in schools through the new curriculum.

At the 2022 elections, voters reported receiving information from candidates in a variety of different ways including:

• leaflet from a candidate (56%)
• leaflet from another source (individual or organisation supporting a candidate) (27%)
• door-to-door canvassing (15%), which was higher in rural areas (23%)
• word of mouth (15%)
• untargeted social media posts (14%)
• advert on social media (12%)

Candidates responding to our survey told us that more traditional campaigning methods were used at these elections:

• 83% put leafletting in their top three campaigning methods, with 45% of respondents saying it was their most used method. Door-to-door canvassing was also popular, with 30% saying it was their most common approach
• a substantial number of respondents used social media in their campaigns, though it was primarily to supplement traditional methods, rather than being the main tool. 55% put social media in their top three methods of campaigning, with 8% saying it was their most used method, compared to 40% saying it was their third most used
• when asked about digital campaigning, free methods were far more popular than any paid-for digital methods. 56% of respondents put posts on social media, and 25% asked supporters to share their posts. The most popular paid-for digital campaigning was adverts on social media, although this was utilised by just 7% of respondents
• around a third (30%) of respondents said they did not use any digital campaigning

Our research showed that Covid continued to have some impact on campaigning. According to candidates who responded to our survey, 65% felt that they were able to effectively get their views across to voters, while 9% disagreed. However, the majority of candidates reported that Covid affected their campaigns in some way, specifically:

• 60% said that Covid impacted their ability to enlist volunteers ‘a lot’ or ‘a little’, and over half (55%) said that fewer opportunities for face-to-face campaigning impacted their campaign to some degree
• 45% said that concerns about their own health impacted their campaign in some way

We found that:

• three in five adults in Wales say it is important for them to know who has produced the political information they see online
• almost half of respondents (49%) said they would trust digital campaign material more if they knew who produced it
• 40% feel that they cannot currently trust the political information that is available online, whereas only 14% said the information online was trustworthy

The UK Government has introduced legislation that will require most campaigners to include information to identify themselves as part of their online campaign material. This new digital imprint requirement will help voters understand who is paying to target them online at future elections and referendums. We will monitor any impact of these new requirements on people’s levels of confidence in political information online.

The first change was a declaration of party affiliation, where candidates must now declare whether they have been a member of another political party within the 12 months leading up to the day on which the notice of election is published. This caused confusion for some candidates, who either failed to complete this section or completed it incorrectly. This issue is covered in further detail in the Delivering the elections section of this report.

The second change related to the use of joint descriptions on the ballot paper. The new legislation permitted two parties to use a joint description on the ballot paper which must include the full registered names of both parties involved.

The law for Senedd elections and other UK-wide elections is different, and allows for the use of joint descriptions that are registered with the Electoral Commission and which identify the parties involved but don’t necessarily include the full registered party names. At the local government elections, these registered joint descriptions were not permitted under the new legislation.

We also introduced virtual post-poll advice surgeries for candidates and agents who wanted to ask specific questions. These sessions were popular and the feedback has been positive. Feedback included:

• almost three quarters of candidates (73%) agreed that the law on election spending and reporting was clear. A fifth (20%) either said they didn’t know or neither agreed nor disagreed, and 7% disagreed
• just under two thirds (64%) agreed that the law on donations and how to check permissibility was clear, compared to 6% who disagreed
• 69% found the law about personal expenses clear, while 6% disagreed

Significant reform is expected in Wales over the coming years, which will present new challenges for electoral practitioners in Wales. This includes new policies expected to be introduced by Welsh Government as well as changes arising from the UK Government’s Elections Act 2022.

Governments need to ensure there is effective planning, management and communication with the electoral community around new legislation and avoid significant delays and short notice changes.

Recruiting staff to work at the elections in some areas was a problem. Two thirds of administrators who responded to our survey said that recruiting enough suitable staff for polling stations was an issue. In certain cases, administrators reported having to recruit Presiding Officers with limited or no experience of the role in order to ensure polling stations could be staffed appropriately. Also, administrators highlighted that a number of people who had previously undertaken the Presiding Officer role had said they were no longer interested in doing so. Administrators also said they believe this will continue to be an issue, limiting the number of experienced people who will be available to work at each set of polls.

The Electoral Commission will continue to work with the Wales Electoral Coordination Board and the wider electoral community across the UK to discuss and identify solutions to the staffing, resilience and capacity challenges experienced by Returning Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and their teams as well as in recruiting sufficient polling station staff.

As at previous recent elections, the Wales Electoral Coordination Board played an important coordination role for these elections, supporting local authorities by holding all-Wales briefing events for Returning Officers and Electoral Services Managers in the autumn of 2021 and spring of 2022.

The Board, which was established in 2017, operates on a voluntary basis to co-ordinate the planning for all-Wales electoral events and activity related to electoral modernisation and reform. As well as this, the Board supports collaboration between Regional and Local Returning Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and key partners in Wales.

Those who responded to our survey said they felt that the Board’s role was sometimes confusing and that communication could be improved. If the Board was made statutory, as recommended in our reports on elections in Wales in 2017 and 2021, we believe this would begin to address these concerns.

The Wales Electoral Coordination Board had early discussions about the timing of the count, and sought consensus from across Wales. In January 2022, with the support of the main political parties, the Board recommended to all Returning Officers in Wales that the count should take place on the day after polling day and not overnight. This recommendation was implemented across Wales. Similar to feedback received at the Senedd election in 2021, we heard from administrators that daytime counting was a success, and was appreciated by candidates and election staff. It made staffing the count easier and was reported to have improved the overall atmosphere.

While the nominations process generally ran smoothly and provided candidates with different ways to submit their nomination papers, feedback from electoral administrators highlighted issues with the nomination forms and the electronic process for submission. For example:

• the processing of electronic nominations forms added to the workload at a point when time is limited
• many candidates submitted nomination forms electronically very close to the deadline making it difficult for any issues to be addressed
• the forms were felt to be repetitive and not straightforward to complete

“Online applications were a double-edge sword. It made it relatively easy for candidates to submit papers at a time of their choosing and removed the need for them to come into the office to hand them in. At a time when we are extremely busy with nominations, minor errors on the form that could be corrected in seconds in the office, could take a couple of days to resolve via emails.”

Through the Wales Electoral Coordination Board, work is currently underway to identify improvements to the nominations process that could be introduced for future elections.

The new rules also made changes to the nomination forms requiring candidates to provide a statement confirming whether they had been a member of any registered political party during the period of 12 months ending with the day when the notice of election was published (defined as ‘the relevant period’) and, if so, to provide details of this membership.

At the end of March 2022, administrators expressed to us that there was confusion around the information they needed to transfer from the nomination forms to the statement of persons nominated, which they would then make publicly available. If the legislation had been in place earlier, and more time given to consultation with those affected by the changes, this issue may have been avoided.

To address the confusion, we issued supplementary guidance to Returning Officers and Electoral Services Managers advising them to only extract and include information from the statement of party membership relating to the relevant period.

We also advised Returning Officers and Electoral Services Managers to remind candidates and agents, during the informal check stage, of the specific circumstances under which they needed to include details on their statement of party membership.

We are working with Welsh Government to minimise the potential for misunderstanding in future and will consider further additions to our guidance to provide additional clarity.