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30/05/2018
Electoral Office Urged To Introduce Online Voter Registration
The Electoral Office should end the delay in implementing online voter registration and work to get tens of thousands of people back on the electoral register, Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew has said.
Making the call after meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, the Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA said: "Online registration was introduced in Britain a number of years ago but there has been an unjustifiable delay in extending it to the North as was originally intended.
"This is despite the huge democratic deficit that exists here with tens of thousands of people taken off the register in recent years, including almost 60,000 in Belfast alone.
"Online registration is one way to begin redressing that deficit by making it more accessible for people to access their right to vote.
"The Electoral Office should also reinstate the schools registration programme which has the potential to get 10,000 young people per year on to the electoral register.
"I met with the Electoral Office today and stressed that there should be urgent action on both these issues if they are to fulfil their stated role of facilitating people in exercising their right to vote.
"It was a constructive meeting and I am hopeful that we will see positive progress in the coming weeks. Sinn Féin will continue to engage closely with the Electoral office to ensure that is the case and all citizens are afforded their hard-won right to vote."
(MH/LM)
Making the call after meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, the Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA said: "Online registration was introduced in Britain a number of years ago but there has been an unjustifiable delay in extending it to the North as was originally intended.
"This is despite the huge democratic deficit that exists here with tens of thousands of people taken off the register in recent years, including almost 60,000 in Belfast alone.
"Online registration is one way to begin redressing that deficit by making it more accessible for people to access their right to vote.
"The Electoral Office should also reinstate the schools registration programme which has the potential to get 10,000 young people per year on to the electoral register.
"I met with the Electoral Office today and stressed that there should be urgent action on both these issues if they are to fulfil their stated role of facilitating people in exercising their right to vote.
"It was a constructive meeting and I am hopeful that we will see positive progress in the coming weeks. Sinn Féin will continue to engage closely with the Electoral office to ensure that is the case and all citizens are afforded their hard-won right to vote."
(MH/LM)
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