Forum Brief: E-democracy proposals

The government has this week launched a consultation on proposals which could lead to the traditional ballot box being scrapped in elections.

Under the proposals, all voters would be offered four ways of voting: online from work or home; by post; by telephone; or at polling stations via online terminals. All votes would then be counted electronically.

Gordon Brown has allocated £30 million to develop e-voting over the next three years.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of ATL, told ePolitix.com: "Pupils must be given experience of democracy whilst in school. Young people are more spin-proof than politicians give them credit for, therefore it is the role of the politicians to make grown up politics with less spin and more accessible to the young."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

David Smith, director of corporate affairs at the British Retail Consortium, told ePolitix.com: "The retail sector has responded to changes in lifestyle by developing on-line shopping and extending its opening hours to accommodate the way people living in 21st century.

"Retailers are pioneers in the development of e-commerce and the government is following our lead in seeking new ways to use modern technology to engage the public.

"Retail is an innovative industry that understands the needs of its customers, which is why retailers have been pleased to assist the government's trials of polling booths in retail outlets, where this assists the public and retail employees."

Forum Response: Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Robin Hutchinson, head of communications at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, told ePolitix.com: "This initiative could ensure that blind and partially sighted voters are offered every opportunity to participate in the democratic system as part of the standard electoral process rather than being a special case.

"Accessibility and opportunity will be the keys to any success and we hope the government will take into account the needs of the 1.9 million blind and partially sighted people in this country in designing this programme."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

A spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance told ePolitix.com: "The Countryside Alliance welcomes the proposal to broaden the ways in which people can vote in elections.

"In rural areas, owing to the scarcity factor, polling stations are frequently beyond walking range. Coupled with inadequate public transport, this can create barriers to voting, disenfranchising the rural community. We are confident that expanding the ways in which people can vote will ensure that turnout will improve and rural people's voices will be heard better."

Forum Response: National Youth Agency

A spokesman for the National Youth Agency told ePolitix.com: "We believe that young people in the UK are much more likely to become involved in politics at a local level and this would build to a national involvement. We also believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16.

"Politics is not seen as accessible by the young. Politicians are not seen as accessible and we have found that young people want more information to know why it is they should become involved in politics. They want to know why they should vote and how it their vote affects them.

"Any move to allow voting via email or texting would be welcomed by the young. After all, voting via a ballot box is often quite daunting for the first time voter.

"Although we commend the government for launching this consultation, ministers should always respect the views of Britain's young people and not selectively quote in order to suit their own purposes."

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

"These online voting proposals are all very well, but rural businesses already struggle with inadequate communications, appalling public transport, restrictive planning systems and infrequent delivery services.

"We believe that without faster internet access, many rural-based businesses will simply not be able to compete in a market that depends on speed of communication and the ability to do business on-line.

"Most urban based businesses are able to take advantage of BT's ADSL Broadband service, that offers connection speeds up to 50 times faster than a traditional dial-up connection. Yet only 1,117 exchanges out of a total 5,500 have been enabled to offer the service - leaving a vast rural area without the service that BT are so strongly promoting."

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

A spokesman for the Professional Association of Teachers said: "These proposals are certainly worth considering as they could lead to greater voter participation.

"Measures such as online or telephone voting could well encourage more young people to vote. I hope that as many people as possible of all ages will take part in the consultation process."

Forum Response: The Disabilities Trust

A spokesman for The Disabilities Trust told ePolitix.com: "Access to the democratic process (and in particular voting) is a basic civil liberty that all of us take for granted. However it is not as easy for one group of people within our society to take a full and active part in this process, people with disabilities. They are still prevented from doing so by the continuing barriers present in the electoral process.

"Information Technology is of particular importance to disabled people as an essential tool of empowerment enabling them to gain information and access services that might otherwise be beyond them. However it is important to recognise that better physical access to polling stations (for example improved wheelchair access) is just as crucial to disabled voters as easier telephone or internet voting, as like all of us they will want to use their franchise in the way that best suits them.

"Therefore, while we welcome the government's efforts to find imaginative ways to overcome current antipathy towards the political process amongst the voting public, it must also include a genuine recognition of the importance of tackling these ongoing problems and not simply be used as a tactic to avoid doing so."

Forum Response: USDAW

Bill Connor, general secretary of Usdaw, told ePolitix.com: "It is right for the government to make it as easy as possible for people to participate in democracy. The use of new technology like the internet and mobile phones will bring our elections into the 21st century.

"Usdaw represents over 316,000 workers, mainly in the retail sector. The majority of our members do not work in conventional 9 to 5 Monday to Friday jobs. They lead busy lives working evenings, nights and weekends and many have the responsibility of raising a family. Often polling day can pass them by, but increasing the opportunities they have to vote will make it much more likely that they will make their voice heard. I am particularly interested in the proposals for workplace voting.

"I am pleased that postal voting will remain, as we would not want to see the entire voting system go electronic. Postal voting is a very popular and effective way of ensuring voter turnout. Usdaw ran a campaign before the last general election to sign up our members to postal voting, after the government relaxed the rules. It was hugely successful and thousands of Usdaw members now vote by post at every election."

Forum Response: Disability Rights Commission

A spokeswoman for the Disability Rights Commission told ePolitix.com: "The Disability Rights Commission warmly welcomes developments in e-voting, which will enable many disabled people to vote at times and in places that are convenient and accessible to them.

"However, we note the fact that the Polls Apart survey, which we funded and which was conducted by Scope, found that 76 per cent of polling stations were not accessible to disabled people at the last general election.

"Many disabled people will still want to cast their vote in this way while polling stations are in use. Many polling stations are public buildings like schools that should in any case be accessible to disabled people. We hope to see progress on this as well as positive developments on alternative methods of voting."

Forum Response: Royal National Institute of the Blind

A spokeswoman for the RNIB told ePolitix.com: "E-democracy could prove an invaluable way of enabling visually impaired and other disabled people to play a fuller role in decision making. But there is a big 'if'. Experiments in e-democracy to date have failed to address the access requirements of visually impaired voters. There has been no insistence upon full and equal access and their needs have been an 'after-thought. "

"Failure to ensure equal access for disabled voters to new e-participation and e-voting systems would raise very serious issues under the Human Rights Act as well as the Disability Discrimination Act. Any web-based systems must be required to conform with Web Accessibility Guidelines and all e-voting equipment procured either centrally or locally should conform to clear access standards for visually impaired and other disabled voters.

"Rights to accessible information must be strengthened to ensure all information relating to voting and democracy is always supplied to print disabled people in their preferred format in a timely way. Print disabled people must also be guaranteed access to the necessary access technology and additional training and support as a top priority. RNIB looks forward to working with government to deliver truly inclusive digital citizenship."

Forum Response: National Council of YMCAs

Richard Capie, public affairs manager at the National Council of YMCAs, told ePolitix.com: "The YMCA welcomes this initiative to make voting more accessible to young people.

"It should not however cloud the wider issue of the disengagement that many young people feel with the party political process. Engaging young people in the decision making process is about much more than just voting.

"Young people are genuinely interested in decisions that affect them and their communities. There are many issues that they want to talk about. It is up to politicians to find meaningful ways to listen and show that decisions are being acted upon.

"The YMCA is committed to helping young people make their voices heard through its Access All Areas programme. Access All Areas provides a variety of opportunities for young people from YMCAs to express their views to politicians and decision makers. For example, this Autumn Access All Areas will be coming to the Party Conferences.

"It is important to recognise that the voting process is only on component of active citizenship.There is little point in setting up new ways to vote if young people still actively decide not to vote."

Forum Response: Centrepoint

A spokeswoman for Centrepoint told ePolitix.com: "Centrepoint welcomes any initiatives that seek to make voting and the democratic process more accessible particularly in relation to our client group of homeless and socially excluded young people. We will follow the consultation with interest."

Forum Response: Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply

A spokeswoman for the CIPS told ePolitix.com: ""The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply as a democratic membership body encourages the progression to vote online from work or home; by post; by telephone; or at polling stations via online as this increases the accessibility for people to submit their votes.

"However to prove to the public that this will be a secure and efficient way to collect such data, security will have to be very high and well publicised, to ensure there is minimal risk that the responses input on-line will be sabotaged and distorted by hackers"

Forum Response: Counsel and Care

Martin Green, chief executive of Counsel and Care, told ePolitix.com: "I welcome any initiative that will enable older people, and particularly those in care homes, to engage in the political process.

"The more ways in which we can vote, the more people are likely to exercise their choice."

Forum Response: Communication Workers Union

A spokesman for the CWU told ePolitix.com: "We believe that the introduction of broadband in here is vital. The union believes that the government can stimulate demand for broadband in three ways.

"Firstly it can ensure that regulators like Oftel and Ofcom are charged with promoting the take up of the technology. Second, it can make use of broadband in public services, which will encourage private demand. And thirdly, it can promote demonstration projects to publicise the benefits."

Forum Response: Royal Agricultural Society

A spokesman for the Royal Agricultural Society told ePolitix.com: "We welcome any initiative which delivers equality of IT provision between urban and rural folk.

"However we hope that the experiment in e-democracy will be run professionally and the government will have learned from some of its recent experiments such as the online self assessment exercise for the inland revenue."

Forum Response: Age Concern

A spokeswoman for Age Concern told ePolitix.com: "One in four voters are pensioners, so whatever changes are made to voting procedures must be suitable for older people. We would want to ensure there are no barriers to older people exercising their right to vote.

"Age Concern has always been supportive of postal voting as an easier method for older people, but we would want to see any online terminals at polling stations designed with older people's needs in mind."

Forum Response: Royal National Institute for Deaf people

Mark Morris, head of political affairs at the RNID, told ePolitix.com: "For deaf and hard of hearing people, the actual polling day does no represent a problem.

"We believe that the first priority should be to make politicians of all parties more accessible in the times between elections."

Forum Response: Unison

A spokeswoman for Unison told ePolitix.com: "Initiatives that extend people's choices about how they can vote are, on the whole, to be welcomed.

"The opportunity to vote online may encourage younger people to vote, but it is important to remember that others may prefer to vote via a ballot box at a polling station."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

Hilary Carter, media manager at Help the Aged, told ePolitix.com: " Help the Aged welcomes any initiative that will enable older people to participate more easily in the democratic process.

"If security and access issues can be addressed, this could be a significant stepping stone for Britain's 11 million older people, who already have the highest propensity to vote, to have their voices heard more loudly in the corridors of power.

"We especially welcome the proposal to include postal voting as an option as there are concerns over the possible disenfranchising of people who do not have access to, or the confidence to use the technology required to participate in the other forms of e-voting."