Jayne Bryant MS, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
Today the Electoral Commission has published its evaluation report of the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) pilots which took place in Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd, Newport and Powys earlier this year. The pilots used local data matching to identify eligible electors for the local government register. In three areas electors were notified of an intention to be registered, and added if they did not opt out within a set period. I am very grateful for those authorities for co-producing and delivering these pilots with the Welsh Government.
Our principles for electoral reform, published in July 2021, set out our ambitions to modernise the administration of elections to lower barriers to participation. Automatic registration would help tackle under-registration in Wales, a first step in bringing more people into our democracy.
The evaluation outlines the benefits of the approach piloted, including adding just over 14,500 new electors and 1,500 attainers (14-15 year olds who will be registered once they turn 16) to the local government register.
The evaluation also makes a number of recommendations for the future, including:
- timing the AVR process to align with the annual canvass (the annual check of the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers);
- reducing the length of the 60 day opt-out period;
- improving the efficiency of data matching software; and
- ensuring Electoral Registration Officers have appropriate resources to manage the process.
The evaluation also recommends that the Welsh Government should consider final data from the annual canvass to assess the data matching accuracy of the pilots.
Given the success of these pilots, we will work closely with the Electoral Commission and other partners to design a safe and effective rollout of AVR. This will take full account of the recommendations from the evaluation and pressures on electoral teams over the coming year. The intention is to implement AVR in time for the local elections in 2027.
We will also continue to work with the UK Government, who announced in July their ambition to move towards automated registration. Our goal is to move forward with reducing the democratic deficit in Wales while minimising divergence in electoral practice and the burden that places on local authorities. Considering the interaction of reserved and devolved registration processes will be a key part of that.
Overall, I am very pleased with how the pilots were conducted and the valuable information and insight they have provided. I will consider the Electoral Commission’s recommendations over the coming months and engage with electoral stakeholders to develop the most effective model for rolling out AVR across Wales in the future. I would be happy to arrange a briefing for Members on AVR in the new year.