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753340

registered interest
date	18/07/2017
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 26 October (HL2496) and 8 November 2016 (HL2803), what progress they have made in creating an online electoral registration checking tool to assist people seeking to know whether or not they are already registered, and to reduce the number of duplicate registrations.
tabling member printed	Lord Rennard
uin	HL1028
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2017 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to create an online electoral registration checking tool. Registers are held locally rather than centrally. There would be major technical, security and privacy issues around consolidating the registers to allow a live registration check, especially given that a checking tool would require an elector to prove their identity in the course of making an application. The investment costs required to overcome these barriers would significantly outweigh the cost of processing duplicates.</p><p>The Government nevertheless recognises that duplicate registrations represent a burden to administrators and that this may be the case in particular at the time of major elections. We are currently examining evidence collected during the recent general election to understand the scale of this issue and to identify more practicable solutions than a checking tool. For example, there may be the potential for improvements to the online journey to reduce duplicates. It may also be possible to exploit electoral management software systems to improve duplicate processing. The Government is taking forward this work with the Association of Electoral Administrators, the Scottish Assessors Association and the Electoral Commission.</p><p>At the same time, it is clear that online registration has led to a boost in registration levels. Compared to other means of increasing registration, such as the issuing of Household Notification Letters in advance of polls, online registration is highly cost efficient, even accounting for duplicate applications.</p> answering member printed The Earl of Courtown question first answered 06/09/2017 12:54:14 answering member 3359 label Biography information for The Earl of Courtown
tabling member	2484 label Biography information for Lord Rennard

753341

registered interest
date	18/07/2017
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which detecting incidents of the same person voting more than once in the same election from different addresses will (1) require the creation of a national database based on collating the local electoral registers as maintained by each Electoral Registration Officer, (2) compilation of the marked registers from each election in electronic format, and (3) enabling such information to be used by those investigating such allegations
tabling member printed	Lord Rennard
uin	HL1029
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2017 answer text <p>Voting more than once at a General Election is a crime which carries an unlimited financial penalty. Any evidence of an individual who is suspected to have voted twice at the General Election should be reported to the Police for investigation. In addition, the presiding officer at a polling station may ask any elector if they have already voted, and may withhold a ballot paper from an elector if they do not answer the question satisfactorily. The electoral register is marked to record the issuing of ballot papers to individuals at polling stations; there are electronic records of the issuing of postal votes representing an equivalent to the marked register for some electors. These records can already assist with an investigation should any voting irregularities be suspected.</p><p>There are a number of significant technical and practical barriers, as well as security and privacy concerns, relating to implementing a national electoral registration database. The Government has no plans to create such a database.</p> answering member printed The Earl of Courtown grouped question UIN HL1030 question first answered 06/09/2017 12:52:14 answering member 3359 label Biography information for The Earl of Courtown
tabling member	2484 label Biography information for Lord Rennard

753342

registered interest
date	18/07/2017
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the prevention of multiple voting in the same election by the same person using different addresses may require a change to the electoral registration process such that an individual may only be included on a particular register for a general election, regional assembly or referendum from somewhere other than their sole address, if that individual has been resident at that alternative address on most days in the preceding year
tabling member printed	Lord Rennard
uin	HL1030
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2017 answer text <p>Voting more than once at a General Election is a crime which carries an unlimited financial penalty. Any evidence of an individual who is suspected to have voted twice at the General Election should be reported to the Police for investigation. In addition, the presiding officer at a polling station may ask any elector if they have already voted, and may withhold a ballot paper from an elector if they do not answer the question satisfactorily. The electoral register is marked to record the issuing of ballot papers to individuals at polling stations; there are electronic records of the issuing of postal votes representing an equivalent to the marked register for some electors. These records can already assist with an investigation should any voting irregularities be suspected.</p><p>There are a number of significant technical and practical barriers, as well as security and privacy concerns, relating to implementing a national electoral registration database. The Government has no plans to create such a database.</p> answering member printed The Earl of Courtown grouped question UIN HL1029 question first answered 06/09/2017 12:52:14 answering member 3359 label Biography information for The Earl of Courtown
tabling member	2484 label Biography information for Lord Rennard

753343

registered interest
date	18/07/2017
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the form of identification accompanying a postal vote should be amended to also require signed confirmation (1) that the ballot paper has been completed only by the person entitled to do so, (2) that this has been done, together with the sealing of the ballot paper in the envelope provided, in conditions of privacy, and (3) that the envelope was returned directly by that person to a Post Box, the Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer, or to a polling station on polling day, save only for those people requiring assistance from someone such as a carer, and as is necessary on the grounds of disability
tabling member printed	Lord Rennard
uin	HL1031
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2017 answer text <p>There are already measures in place designed to safeguard the security of postal voting, including the use of personal identifiers by postal voters. Sir Eric Pickles’ review of electoral fraud, published in 2016, considered postal voting and identified a number of areas in which the existing rules around postal voting could be tightened. The Government responded to the review, addressing each of its recommendations in turn, and setting out a number of measures for tackling the risk of fraud.</p><p>The Government is continuing to consider how to improve the integrity of postal voting and electoral processes in general, and will keep these matters under review.</p> answering member printed The Earl of Courtown question first answered 06/09/2017 12:52:47 answering member 3359 label Biography information for The Earl of Courtown
tabling member	2484 label Biography information for Lord Rennard