Common Councillor Leyla Boulton’s motion was overwhelmingly backed
The City of London Corporation has agreed to look at updating its unique system of recording voters in an effort to boost turnout at elections.
Common Councillor Leyla Boulton, a representative of the Bassishaw ward, proposed a motion intended to set the ball rolling on the Corporation moving from its current annual update of its electoral register to a monthly model. The City is the only body in the country with local authority functions to update its register on a yearly, rather than a monthly, basis, with concerns about the impact on voters living and working in the Square Mile.
Critics of the Corporation’s existing process point to examples such as the elections held in March this year, when more than half of the City’s wards saw Common Councillors win their seats uncontested. Cllr Boulton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that in backing her motion, members “have sent a clear signal that they favour modernising and strengthening the City of London’s democratic foundations and mandate”.
How are voters in the City of London registered?
The City of London Corporation has a unique voter base, made up of not just residents but also workers. Currently, sole traders, partnerships and workers from ‘qualifying bodies’ are able to register and vote in City elections, as well as residents.
According to the Corporation’s website: “Organisations with a workforce of nine or less can appoint one voter; those with up to 50 can appoint one voter for every five; those with more than 50 can appoint 10 voters and one additional voter for every 50 members of the workforce over the initial 50. In each case the remainders are ignored.”
At present the process for eligible businesses to sign up electors, or voters, requires them to send a list of names to the Corporation by November 30. Businesses and other organisations entitled to nominate voters would have been sent registration forms at the end of August.
The ward lists, which detail the voters for each locality in the Square Mile, are then updated towards the end of the year.
For residents, an ‘annual canvas’ is carried out by the Corporation between August and December. This involves contacting every property to find out if there have been any changes to the household, and which is used to ensure the local ward list and Electoral Register are both up to date.
Hope of boosting voter turnout
The Corporation’s system differs from that used across the rest of the UK, under which voter registers are updated monthly between January and September. There are no changes in October and November due to the annual canvas taking place, with full registers published on December 1.
In a Policy and Resources Committee paper presented last March the Corporation’s Elections Team listed rolling registration as one of the potential changes that would have the most significant advantage for voters in the City.
Officers wrote it was believed moving to a monthly system would make for a more accurate register and “be advantageous to registration and to increasing the size of the City’s franchise”.
In her motion, presented to the Corporation’s Court of Common Council on Thursday (October 9), Cllr Boulton wrote the lack of rolling registers “means that any number of new constituents can be disenfranchised and any number who have left a ward can still vote there, undermining democracy”.
She added the current system results in “unnecessary bureaucratic burden” being imposed on businesses, and that the Court should resolve “to bring forward a report to the Policy and Resources Committee setting out the necessary steps to achieve legislative change at the earliest opportunity to introduce rolling electoral registration in the City of London Corporation”.
‘Cut the bureaucratic burden’
Speaking at Thursday’s court, Cllr Boulton introduced her motion by telling members: “This practice, abandoned by the rest of the UK years ago, means that at any one time some constituents are disenfranchised while others can vote in a ward months after leaving it.”
She added the reform would “cut the bureaucratic burden” imposed on businesses, charities and residents by the existing system.
Common Councillor Mercy Haggerty, who seconded the motion, said that in her ward of Cripplegate, which is largely residential, people who contribute to the City have found they are not eligible to vote having missed the once-a-year deadline.
She also raised the point of students, who she said, once they are settled and engaged, find themselves “locked out of [the] democratic process for over a year”.
“This is not just a technical flaw. It’s a failure that actively excludes young people from participating in local democracy.”
Common Councillor Sarah Gillinson said she knew several families personally who, having missed the deadline to sign up, had not been able to vote in March’s elections.
Another speaker, Deputy Nighat Qureishi, said she was aware of electors in Billingsgate who had moved elsewhere but were brought back in to vote due to them still being on the register, a situation she described as “deplorable”.
Some members, such as Deputy James Thomson, said they would be backing the motion, though made clear any shift to a rolling model must be considered as part of a wider package of reforms.
The sole member to stand and say they were opposing the motion was Deputy Timothy Butcher, who said he would not vote in favour due to it proposing to bring forward a report only on rolling registration. He said the paper would cost money to produce and may be out of date by the time a bill goes before Parliament, which would be necessary for such changes to be implemented.
“This report, My Lord Mayor, will gather dust,” he said. “I would rather spend the money to keep our streets clean and I urge honourable members to oppose this motion.”
When put to the vote the motion was overwhelmingly backed by members.
Cllr Boulton told the LDRS following the meeting: “By backing this motion, elected members have sent a clear signal that they favour modernising and strengthening the City of London’s democratic foundations and mandate. I look forward to working with officers and members to turn this commitment into actual change and real progress during the term of this court.”
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