‘Urgent action’ is needed to minimise the risks to the delivery of well-run elections in the future, an independent commission has stressed.
A new report from the Electoral Commission has said more needs to be done to address the increasing challenges returning officers are facing in delivering elections.
The report applauds the work done by local returning officers in this year’s snap General Election.
However, it noted problems in a small number of areas — Plymouth and Newcastle-under-Lyme, for example — meant voters did not receive the service they should be able to expect.
The main issues highlighted in The Administration of the June 2017 UK General Election were the reduced resources of returning officers and electoral administrators, and the increasing loss of skilled professionals from local authority elections teams.
The commission also called for the full implementation of the recommendations made by the UK’s Law Commissions in 2016 to reform and simplify our complex and fragmented framework of electoral law.
The chair of the Electoral Commission, Sir John Holmes, said: ‘Like all of the public sector, local authorities are under increasing financial pressure and unexpected elections can put significant extra strain on them.
‘It is important to ensure that they have the resources and expertise they need to go on running our elections well.
‘Recommended changes to electoral law would also make our electoral processes simpler and more efficient. I urge the UK’s governments to give them urgent consideration.’
