Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

The Electoral Modernisation Programmein the United Kingdom

Paul DockerHead of Electoral Modernisation

Department for Constitutional Affairs

CoE ConferenceNovember 2006

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

Vision

Multi-channel elections which:• Meet needs of modern lifestyles• Improve access• Maintain / increase security• Improve administrative efficiency

“A 21st century democracy should provide a variety of ways of voting that reflect modern lifestyles” e-Envoy; In the Service of Democracy – 2002

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

The UK approach

• Trials in binding elections

• Maintaining a healthy scepticism

• Relying heavily on independent evaluation and agreed standards (CoE)

• Developing robust systems & accreditation including use of EML

• Scaling up where opportunities allow and systems require

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

UK Government’s strategy

• A first programme of pilots in binding elections - 2002 to 2005

• leading to extensive e-enabled: • local government elections - 2007 to 2010• Greater London Assembly elections - 2008• Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assembly elections?• European Parliamentary elections?

• and leading to an e-enabled general election

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

The benefits of piloting

• Testing in a real world environment

• Learning lessons

• Building for the future:

voter experience

local authority appetite

technical experience

developing political will

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

Electoral Pilots - a brief history

• Since enabling legislation in 2000 over 150 electoral pilot schemes involving some 100 local authorities

• 2003 Electoral Pilots covered over 6.4 million electors in 59 electoral pilots

• 17 (centrally funded) e-voting pilots delivering: Internet, kiosks, SMS, telephone and interactive digital TV

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

2003 Electoral Pilots Summary

• 1.4 million voters able to participate in e-voting pilots

• 27% of voters offered e-voting used the new methods available

• In comparable areas where piloting took place in 2002, voting using e channels increased by over 50%

• 2003 e-voting pilot areas had an average turnout of 37.5% compared to the national average of 33%

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

The ‘hiatus’ in 2004 and 2005

2004 - concentration on all-postal pilots• Ministers keen to use gains in postal voting• Coincided with Birmingham fraud issues

2005 - General election - no power to pilot

Need to address issues around postal voting became a priority

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

Pilot developmentsin May 2006

Concentrated on security and administrative changes plus e-counting

• pilots to improve the security of the election e.g. use of barcodes, signature checking (Contributed to Act in July 2006) ;

• pilots which improved access for electors, e.g. early voting, mobile voting and alternative polling locations;

• pilots which improved administrative efficiency e.g. electronic counting of traditional and/or postal ballots;

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

What we want to test

•Central Procurement•Direction to suppliers – e.g. pre-registration•Testing what we want – e.g. different marks in e-counting, different languages, ensuring accuracy of ballot completion•Procurement based on CoE Standards•2007 onwards we will pilot:

traditional and additional polling stations Remote e-voting – Internet and Telephone voting ‘de-centralisation’ of voting to improve accessibility

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

E-voting - specific issues for UK

• Fraud - increase in Postal Vote security requirements

• Maintaining public confidence in election systems

• Media and perceptions - UK and abroad

• Capacity of local authorities to deliver

• Supply -v- Demand - getting what we want not necessarily what is already available

• Political support

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e

Conclusion

• Looking to push forward on e-voting

• We are focused on addressing the key issues in the current climate - security, perceptions first …. scalability later

• We are looking to learn from recent experiences

• Looking forward to working with you and others

Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate

Contacts:

paul.docker@dca.gsi.gov.uk+44 (0)20 7210 8221

stuart.harrington@dca.gsi.gov.uk+44 (0)20 7210 8308