The government yesterday announced the opening of a Ministry of Justice consultation on the future of the Edited Electoral Register.

The statement to the House of Commons by Minister of State for Justice, Michael Wills, can be read here.

As noted previously, the Edited Electoral Register is an ‘opt-out’ version of the full Electoral Register. Whereas it is illegal to not be on the full Electoral Register, citizens may ‘opt-out’ of the Edited Register if they do not wish to be targetted by companies or organisations that can access the information.

The Edited Register came into existence in 2000 and has not been without criticism during its lifetime. Issues surrounding accessibility, privacy and its ‘opt-out’ nature have led some, such as Lord Norton, to call for it to be abolished.

The consultation can be found here and is open until 23 February 2010.

The Electoral Commission is briefing Electoral Registration Officers on “the importance of ensuring that electoral records containing personal data are stored securely.”

Gary Streeter, a member of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, was responding to a written question from Eleanor Laing, Member for Epping Forest, as to whether the Electoral Commission was providing guidance to local Electoral Registration Officers. Mr. Streeter revealed that the Electoral Commission was indeed briefing Election Registration Officers on the safe storage of data, and encouraging them to seek advice from Data Protection Officers and IT departments.

There have recently been two high-profile incidents of lost or stolen electoral data in the United Kingdom. In St. Albans, a male from Stevenage was arrested on suspicion of stealing four laptops containing information on some 14,000 people. In Glenrothes, the loss of marked electoral register data has been attributed to “human error”.

Updating on our previous post, a 35 year old man from Stevenage has been accused of stealing the four laptops which contained personal information of over 14,000 people.

The accused was arrested on suspicion of theft and has been granted bail until March 4th.

The council has sent a letter to those affected, but have reported that there is little risk of the data being accessed and used fraudulently.

To read the full story, please click here.

Mark Pack has commented on a story which we have previously spoken about.  To read Mark’s article, click here.  To read our previous summary,  please click here .

Mohammed Saghir, the former Conservative Calderdale councillor, has denied 5 charges of electoral fraud.  Saghir has been accused of rigging proxy votes.  A 3 day trial has been set for April 12 at Bradford Crown Court.

As Mark mentioned, the Bradford area has been recently susceptible to electoral fraud. Unlock Democracy agrees with Mark that there is scope to reduce personation at the polling stations.  However, we disagree that it has to be costly and on a region by region basis. 

This is because the identification voters could produce in polling stations to prove they are who they say they are can be of many commonly held varieties, for example a driving licence, bus pass or credit/debit card.  This should, therefore, be of no cost or inconvenience to the voter  as many carry these forms of ID on a daily basis, and also means no added cost to the local authority running the election.  

These measures should also be introduced on a nationally, as opposed to a regional case by case basis. As the campaign highlights with electoral law in Northern Ireland, what is good for one area of the country will be beneficial for all areas, as if one area is susceptible surely so are all!

Three weeks ago the Electoral Commission, in a press release on their report on the 2009 Local Elections said:

“Looking to the future there is still more that can be done to make sure that our electoral system is accessible and secure, and we remain keen to see the Government’s electoral modernisation strategy. The evidence from the June 2009 elections suggests that the introduction of advance voting at a local polling station prior to election day itself would be popular with voters and give them more of a chance to have their voice heard.”

I have already outlined here why the thinking in the last sentence seems muddled, based as it was on one opinion poll, where the question could have been clearer, as it didnt ask about advance voting, but weekend voting, which the Commission itself recently argued against.

We too however have been waiting to see what the Government has to say for itself.  After talking to the Ministry of Justice however, this strategy is not due any time soon, and it seems the Electoral Commission and those of us interested in electoral modernisation should not hold our breath.  Whilst they remain confident of something being published, the timeframe is unclear as the strategy is pending discussions within Government. 

The strategy is the Governments plans for electoral modernisation and how to enguage more of the public in the voting process.  It will incorporate the Governments response to the Weekend Voting Consultation which closed over a year ago and to which we are still awaiting a Government response. 

It was announced in the spring and was meant to be released this summer.  Now in a recent parliamentary answer the Minister of State for Justice has said it will be released shortly. 

So how long is a piece of string….