Telford council could visit homes of non-voters
Thursday 30th September 2010, 9:35PM BST.
Elections chiefs could soon go door-knocking at homes of residents in Telford & Wrekin who stubbornly refuse to register to vote.
Officers would call at least twice on homes where no one has signed up in a determined effort to get them on the electoral roll. The proposals, to be considered at a full meeting of the borough council next Thursday, has been put forward by Labour group chief Councillor Keith Austin.
He is demanding the council’s electoral staff make door-to-door inquiries at all households where no one has returned the registration form posted out to them.
Councillor Austin, who wants at least two calls to be made on the target homes, says in his motion to the council meeting: “The electoral register is the foundation stone of our democracy and we have a duty to ensure that it is both accurate and complete, helping to empower citizens and increase public engagement in the democratic process.”
He says the Electoral Commission believes about 3.5 million people are currently missing off the register in England and Wales and the bulk of them come from specific social groups.
He also wants people who have registered previously but not returned the latest form to be automatically put on the voting list when there is no evidence they have died or moved.
Councillor Austin said today: “Not voting is a nationwide problem.
“Registration is a fundamental requirement of the democratic process and many people simply do not send back their registration forms. We are saying the council should proactively chase up those people and they know where they are.
“Under my previous administration we carried out a large exercise under instruction by the Government doing just that and we also pushed postal votes.
“The result was we got turnouts at elections of 70 per cent so it shows that it works.
“It comes to something if people have not got the time to fill in a registration form which takes just a minute or two to check or complete.”
The Labour chief is also calling on the council to launch an advertising campaign targeted at social groups and parts of the borough which are known to have the lowest levels of registration.
By Simon Hardy
UK News
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Perhaps these non voters are fed up with being conned by politicians. They all adopt the same policy, during campaigning- promise much, after election-deliver nothing. I never voted, and binned my form as soon as it arrived. I considered it my democratic right to refuse to participate. Maybe these folks do too. More power to their elbow.
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Im 45 and Ive only ever voted once in my entire life…the reason is that all parties promise so much and deliver so little.
Why should I vote for a pary that has policies I dont agree with?
Let the council Gestapo come knocking , I have a right not to answer my door and no amount of pressure or brow beating will make me vote if I dont want to.
The trouble with the councillors is that they think they know whats best for us but actually do more harm than good. eg:the recyling frequency of 2 weeks , which has resulted in my bin being infested with maggots during the summer. The bags supplied fall apart and it takes weeks for the council to replace. Also I often end up with no bag at all or someone else’s bin as the binmen often dont return them correctly…and then there was the arty blocks on the island at the Town Centre….I could go on but Iwont bore you with the details. In summary I wont be forced to vote….
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why should we have to do this what a waste of my time and plenty of other peoples time voting for people we neither know or have any respect for. what happened to this world if i would have known that i was going to be controled from the second i was born i would have picked not to be here or born i hated having to register my son as from that point i know hes on the system and the grubby goverment have him paying for them for the rest of his life.
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Isn’t democracy about the ability to vote or note to vote as the person sees fit?
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They can chase them until they’re blue in the face, all that most of these people are interested in is their benefit cheques arriving and they certainly don’t care about the democratic welfare system set-up to provide them. So lets have no guff about these folk sagely pondering on the political landscape before choosing to eschew it. Sad, but there you go, these people had the chance to educate themselves and they either missed the boat or more likely chose not to turn up to catch it.
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wife and I voted liberal to get us out out of the two party( one policy) system – ho hum ended up in the same place after all. Seems we get the same load of career politicians whatever we do.
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Perhaps its time we moved to a system of compulsory enrollment and voting as they have in Australia. They have had this system since 1925 and in recent election had a 94% turnout. Those who did not vote will need to have a valid reason for not doing so or face a fine or court hearing.
Also since 2004 the Australian Electoral is not sold to Marketing companies, perhaps something that needs to be considered here in UK, could cut down the amount of junk mail.
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Give me an electorate worth voting for that does not lie to your face & i will.
give me a vote on the decisions you make after election & i will.
until then carry on with your political lies to the public that vote you into office but don’t expect a vote from me.
(that goes to all parties)
p.s knock my door begging & trying to tell me what to do with MY vote & i’ll tell you where to go.
thats if i even open the door.
until the government is actualy FOR the people i’ll carry on binning the electorate form.
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Well said Ken..totally agree
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To oldbeastie I would say that many of the people on benefits are there due to the policies of past administrations. They, like me, know that no matter who gets elected their policies will not help them one iota. I have always worked, yet I am educated enough to realise that governments do not care about the working man, and that is why I chose not to take part in voting people onto the gravy train, and I did consider this option carefully before instigating it.
Martin, if you think compulsory voting is a good idea, then how about this. IF I was forced to vote, I would turn up and vote for every candidate available thus rendering the system ineffective, so maybe it is not such a good plan after all, for, if all the current non voters did this the final result would be the same.
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As I read this story it is about people not completing and returning the electoral registration form; you have to do this to receive a voting card but once done you don’t actually have to vote.
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“Telford council could visit homes of non-voters” – the fact is, they are already door knocking and telling peole its a legal requirement to be on the electoral role – i’ve just had my second visit.
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Read the story properly chaps…
This is about getting people on to the electoral roll – not about forcing anyone to vote. You have a legal obligation to register to vote – and the council are already sending people door-to-door with copies of their entry on the electoral register for them to sign.
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Council took 3 months to find my door to give me a plastics recycling bag, they got no chance of finding me to make me register lol!
So what if registering is a legality? They’re hardly going to prosecute everyone who doesn’t register. You wouldn’t be able to get a real criminal prosecuted for love nor money then!
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So is your objection because you’re trying to avoid paying your council tax I wonder?
Great – another one I’m potentially paying for…
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Pay my council tax every month by direct debit honey and I’ve never had to be on the roll to do that!
But if you wanted to pay my council tax I wouldn’t object, you obviously enjoy it!
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