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June 24, 2008
Separate ballots and separate elections
That's the message from the Government's response to the Gould Report into last year's Scottish elections. From the press release just up on the Scottish Office's website. Among the actions to be taken:
"Reversion to separate ballot papers for the constituency and regional votes"
"decoupling of the local government from the Scottish Parliament elections" (supporting the consultation on this issue the Scottish Executive has launched)
"A longer period between close of nominations and the date of the election, to accommodate administrative demands of increased postal voting."
All sensible proposals. And learning the lessons from the successful London elections last month. Londoners coped much better with the two parts of and different voting systems for the Assembly election on separate ballot papers than they had when both were on the same ballot paper in 2004 (read MVC's report here). Likewise the lack of an additional completely different election competing for attention meant that the voter education efforts could be much more focused - and succesfully so - on the Mayoral and Assembly elections.
However, I'm sure my colleagues at ERS Scotland will have a more detailed and more critical reaction to other aspects of the Government's response to Gould. The disproportionate focus by the Government on the timing of the countl certainly when compared to more weighty electoral administration matters that the Government opposes - transfer of functions and decision-making over elections from Westminster to Edinburgh, and the position of a Chief Returning Officer in Scotland.
Posted by malcolmclark on June 24, 2008
