Radical plan to overhaul electoral register
Combating fake news, regulating political advertising online, and fixing the electoral register are central to radical Government plans to establish an Electoral Commission.
The plans are detailed in two confidential Cabinet memos seen by the Irish Examiner. They also include provisions to allow 16-year-olds ‘pre-register to vote’ and making it easier for homeless people to be able to vote.
The proposals from Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, to be formally announced next week, seek to address the need to modernise the electoral register as well as “regulating transparency of online political advertising”.
The memos, discussed and approved by Cabinet three weeks ago, reveal that four options for how the commission will operate are under consideration.
The Cabinet agreed to “expedite the establishment of an Electoral Commission” as well as introducing regulation as to how political adverts are placed online.
Ministers were informed of the details of a regulatory impact analysis which outlined four options for how an Electoral Commission would operate. Those options were:
The memos show that ministers were also told of plans to reform legislation provisions concerning the funding of election and referendum campaigns, in line with recommendations from the Mahon Tribunal report.
However, the work of an Electoral Commission would also seek to “support EU work in tackling online disinformation”, the memo adds.
It is also expected that the ethics-in-public-office function currently handled by the Standards in Public Office would transfer over to a new commission which would also assume many of the functions carried out by the Department of Local Government.
Ministers were also briefed about the modernisation of the electoral register project which is looking at a range of possible improvements in the electoral registration process.
Key proposals being considered include a single national register, continuous registration and online options for public interaction. Given the importance of the electoral register, the process being planned includes a significant public consultation element and the process will take two to three years.
Technical consultations with registration authorities and other bodies, including the political system, will also form part of deliberations.
One of the proposals being considered is for “provisional registration for 16- to 17-year-olds which would automatically activate on their 18th birthdays, enabling a schools programme to maximise youth engagement”.
“This would assist in increasing youth engagement with the register without introducing additional potential for inaccuracy that could result from adding people automatically with address details that may be out of date,” the memo states.
It is also planned to “clarify and simplify” procedures to facilitate those without a fixed address to register.
The plan will examine the possibility of using PPS numbers to identify voters and sharing data between public bodies to automatically update people’s addresses on the electoral register.
Labour’s Housing spokesperson and former minister Jan O’Sullivan expressed concern about the potential use of PPS numbers given it could lead to people’s personal data being exposed.
However, she said there is a need to eliminate the situation where many people are registered to vote in two or more locations because of weaknesses in the system.
