On 14 November 2014 the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee published an interim report on voter engagement, and invited the public to respond to the draft conclusions and recommendations set out in its report.
The proposals the Committee invited views on included:
- Making voting compulsory in some elections, with an option to "abstain" or vote for “none of the above”
- Extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds
- Modernising electoral administration by considering options such as automatic registration, letting people register on the day of an election, online voting and many more
- Reforming party structures to better engage with the public
- Looking at how the media and politics can interact for the greater good of a healthy democracy
- Taking forward decentralisation and devolution so the electorate can engage much more in deciding their own affairs
- Doing more to increase registration for those people under represented on the electoral registers—including young people, British citizens living overseas, commonwealth and EU citizens and members of some Black and Minority Ethnic groups
The Committee published its follow up report on voter engagement, based on responses to the consultation, on 5 February 2015.
Survey on voter engagement
The Committee hosted a survey from 2 December to 11 January, asking members of the public what proposals they would support with a view to increasing voter engagement. The Committee received almost 5,000 responses, and the full data is available below, including comments made by respondents.