High Peak Liberal Democrats

Make national voter registration day part of your campaign

February 5th will be Bite The Ballot's 2nd 'National voter registration day'.

Last year this NGO, with a number of companies and schools in support, succeeded in sharply raising the number of young people registering. This year, in the run-up to the general election, they aim to add more than 250,000 to the register. You will find details of what they plan, and how they plan to manage it, here.

The coalition government is carrying through the transition from household registration - in which the 'head of household' filled in a single form for all those living in each dwelling, whether a house, flat, or hall of residence - to individual registration, in which each voter is responsible for ensuring that their name is on the register. Over 80% of voters have been automatically transferred from the old register to the new, after cross-checking with National Insurance records, Council Tax and Benefits records, and so on. The remaining 15-20% are concentrated among particular groups: 'attainers' - 16/17-year-olds coming on to the register for the first time, students living away from home, single young people in rented accommodation who move frequently, and some ethnic minorities. Access to online registration, since last summer, together with reminders attached to government notices and efforts by the NUS and others, have brought a useful surge of additional registrations. But we want to ensure that everyone who is interested in voting has the chance to do so.

Local schools in your area may already be planning events to mark the day; so may colleges and universities. Media, Facebook and Twitter will also mark it in different ways; you can help with these. BiteTheBallot are encouraging 'partners' to post their activities online. Their video here invites others to register.

The last Labour government started the transition to individual electoral registration (IER). The UK was almost the last developed democracy still to rely on the 19th century system of household registration. This has not stopped Labour from charging, in recent weeks, that IER is a coalition plot to leave non-Conservative-supporting groups off the list. It's true that there are some Conservatives who would happily allow students and ethnic minorities to miss out; but the coalition government has been determined to maximise the numbers registered. Several million pounds were allocated to NGOs last year to work with specific under-registered groups; a further £10m has now been offered to further raise the percentage registered.

The evidence indicates that the strongest reason for voters not being registered is lack of interest in voting - or, to put it more bluntly, disillusionment with party politics. But young men, in particular, often leave registering with doctors or local authorities until the last minute needed. There was a surge in late registrations as the 2010 election campaign got under way; we may expect a similar surge in late March and early April 2015. So we should build into our campaigning arguments for using every vote, and for not leaving registration to the last minute. Liberal Democrats believe in an active democracy, against the flow of cynical disengagement that characterises so much of the current British political debate.

So, let's take every opportunity we can to encourage young people not only to register but also to follow the campaign and to use their vote.

* Lord Wallace of Saltaire is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.

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