Key Facts

• David Marshall is the chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland.
• Cahir Hughes is head of the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland.
• Photographic ID has been required at polling stations in Northern Ireland for over 25 years.
• Over 90% of voters are aware that they need to bring photographic ID to polls.
• The Bill includes a review of the canvass law in Northern Ireland.
• Automatic registration is expected to improve access to electoral services.
• Company registration processes differ between UK and Ireland, complicating verification of donations.
• Calling out names in polling stations will be ended due to established voter ID requirements.
• The need for canvass reform was highlighted.
• Automatic voter registration is part of the proposed reforms.
• There are concerns about data disclosure without individual consent.
• The debate around lowering the voting age to 16 has mixed public opinion among young people.
• Political parties rarely design policies that attract young voters regardless of whether the voting age is 18 or 16.
• Research indicates that many young people do not see themselves represented by older political figures and feel disconnected from traditional notions of adulthood.
• Votes at 16 needs significant democratic education and engagement in schools.
• In Scotland and Wales, only 75% of 16 and 17-year-olds voted in the independence referendum of 2014 with an average turnout of 85%.
• The UK lacks a centre for research around democracy.
• Young people are highly engaged in social and political issues when given opportunities to discuss them.
• There is a lack of focus on primary school interventions compared to secondary school.
• Teachers feel underprepared for teaching citizenship due to insufficient teacher training.
• Electoral laws were originally designed in the Victorian age.
• There is no central source of information on local election results in England and Northern Ireland.
• Professor James suggests statutory requirements for publishing data on parliamentary and local elections.
• An amendment proposes a digital repository for paid-for digital election materials after 72 hours.
• Professor James discusses the importance of secondary legislation for determining data sources.
• Examples from Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and Australia are given for automatic voter registration practices.
• Professor Bernal advocates for abolishing the open register to reduce privacy risks.
• Harry Busz is deputy director of policy at Democracy Volunteers.
• Councillor Peter Golds has experience addressing election malpractice and intimidation.
• Richard Mawrey is a King's Counsel with expertise in electoral fraud cases.
• Family voting involves accompanying voters into or near polling booths and influencing them to vote in a particular way.
• Data collected shows that ballot secrecy was denied in 116 out of 204 observed constituencies during the latest general election.
• The Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 specifies that trying to influence someone inside a polling booth is an offence.
• Councillor Golds refers to the Ballot Secrecy Act passed with support across parties.
• Richard Mawrey discusses cases of electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets and Birmingham where enforcement was lacking despite clear evidence.
• Paul Holmes mentions tabling new clause 37 concerning language of campaign materials.
• The Representation of the People Bill is being discussed.
• There is a view that UK election law needs modernisation through a consolidating statute.
• Voter ID regulations have affected public perception of presiding officers and poll clerks.
• The 1973 Act requires candidates' addresses to be public.
• A councillor received threats based on her husband's employment status and role as a school governor.
• In the 2024 general election, 1.37% of voters were initially turned away compared to the Electoral Commission’s figure of 0.25%.
• Personation is not a significant issue at polling stations but can be problematic with postal voting.
• Richard Mawrey acknowledges provisions under the 1983 Act for assisting voters with certain disabilities.
• Harry Busz mentions improvements in aids for voting independently but notes that councils struggle to find accessible polling station buildings each election.
• Lewis Cocking asks about automatic voter registration and its potential issues, while Richard Mawrey expresses skepticism about its practicality due to resource constraints.
• Bad actors are using smurfing and mixers to conceal funds and evade reporting thresholds.
• The Czech Justice Minister accepted a Bitcoin donation worth $45 million from a convicted drug trafficker in 2025.
• Moldovan parliamentary elections saw illegal Russian funds laundered through cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Russian state actors used cryptocurrency to pay individuals for arson targeting UK warehouses supplying Ukrainian aid and for delivering bombs via DHL packages.
• The UK has an effective voter participation rate of only around 1.3% among its more than 5 million potential overseas electorate.
• Conservatives Abroad believes technological advances now allow a secure and verifiable online facility to be introduced for overseas electors.
• New Zealand and Singapore use biometric identification apps to verify overseas electors downloading ballot papers.
• The proposal includes extending postal votes and requiring earlier registration.
• There was a 70% return rate for early sent ballots but only 2% for those sent later during the last election.
• Estonia had over 51% of votes cast via an electronic system in its latest election.
• The French legislative election had a 37% turnout of overseas citizens compared to 5% for British citizens at the last general election.
• Half a million passports from overseas are renewed annually by the UK Passport Office, totaling over 5 million in a decade.
• The Department for Work and Pensions' International Pension Centre deals with more than a million overseas pensions.
• A Sheffield University case study showed that 75% of students were enrolled on the electoral register through annual enrolment prompts compared to 13% at other universities.
• Each constituency has a separate overseas register.
• Political parties receive all overseas register data.
• A centralised overseas register could potentially reduce representation of Brits abroad.
• The government's election strategy announced before Christmas identified misinformation as a threat to democracy.
• Civil society organizations recommend creating a political digital repository to tackle online harms.
• Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 needs updating to criminalize AI and deepfakes usage.
• New clause 10 aims to prevent false statements about candidates through deepfakes.
• The repository would store paid-for digital political advertising within a 72-hour window before elections.
• Ofcom or Electoral Commission are suggested as potential regulators for the repository.
• The Electoral Commission will have greater powers on information sharing and enforcement.
• Online harassment is not fully addressed by the Bill despite concerns raised by the Speaker’s Conference and the Crown Prosecution Service.
• There are recommendations for a statutory obligation on tech companies to be involved in media and political literacy campaigns.
• The proposal to increase the Electoral Commission’s investigative powers is new clause 25.
• New clause 26 proposes establishing a critical election incident protocol similar to Canada's model.
• The UK is an outlier among Five Eyes nations for not having a public protocol.
• Political parties are engaging in permanent campaigning, building up war chests before elections.
• An amendment has been tabled for digital campaigning regulations to ensure transparency.
• A recommendation is made to prohibit crypto donations until wider regulation catches up.
• The 'know your donor' regime needs tweaks to address foreign interference risks and inconsistent risk assessments across parties.
• The Bill introduces a beneficial owner test and a UK connection test.
• The Electoral Commission has flagged the revenue test as a risk for foreign interference.
• Tax experts say it is easy to generate significant UK turnover without genuine UK operations.
• The proposed cap on donations is £50,000 annually from any one donor by 2030.
• Nearly £100 million was spent in the last general election.
• A spending limit of £19.5 million per candidate standing in every constituency was previously set.
• The Bill is a carry-over Bill and will likely go through Report stage in the second session of Parliament.
• Nathan Gill's conviction prompted Philip Rycroft to undertake a review on election interference.
• The Minister argues that bank cards are widely held by under-represented groups, including 16 and 17-year-olds.
• The Government believes first past the post is the best system for UK parliamentary elections.
• Revenue, not profit, is used as a measure for companies donating to political parties.
• Digital IDs with holographic clocks may be considered acceptable forms of identification.
• RPB01 Online Safety Act Network.
• Marcus J Ball, Private Prosecutor & Legal Reform Campaigner.
• Dr Ben Stanford.
• Elect Her.
• Migrant Democracy Project (MDP).
• The Jo Cox Foundation.
• Marie Bosnjak.
• Dr Sam Power from the University of Bristol.
• Campaign for Compulsory Voting.
• Open Britain.
• Politics in Action.
• Electoral Reform Society.
• Professor Toby S. James from the University of East Anglia and Electoral Integrity Project.
• 50:50 Parliament and Centenary Action (joint submission).
• Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI.
• A coalition of civil society organisations (joint submission).
• Spotlight on Corruption.
• Full Fact.
• Electoral Psychology Observatory (EPO) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
• Unlock Democracy.
• Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT).
• Reform Political Advertising.
• Alan Renwick.
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
• Elect Her (further submission).
• Electoral Management Board for Scotland (EMB).
• Internet Matters.
• Generation Rent.
• Labour International CLP.