Writing this blog over the years has put us in the very lucky position of occasionally receiving advance sight of different reports and papers, which often spark a chain reaction of ideas often ending up with our thoughts being recorded for posterity. Today is one of those days, as we have the chance to discuss a subject very dear to our hearts; local elections.
A paper released today (Friday 7 March 2014) by Democratic Audit makes for very interesting reading, highlighting a number of key points which affect voter turnout and attitudes at elections in the UK. It’s not massively long nor overly complex, and is well worth a read if you have even a passing interest in the democratic process, and has indeed sparked a chain of thoughts which I’ll share in no particular order.
Overall, the report addresses three key areas which it sees as fundamental to the take-up of the right to vote each and every one of us has:
- Minimum voting age
- How we vote
- How we publicise election information
I’ll avoid going into too much detail as the report does this better than I could (seriously, go have a look!), but I will share my thoughts on each of these in turn.