Voting in secondary schools proposed to boost turnout
The Welsh Government is exploring whether flexible voting pilots can take place in next year’s local government elections.
Polling stations in secondary schools and colleges would allow young people easy access to democracy, following legislation giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote in Wales. Consideration is also being given to sites such as leisure centres or supermarkets.
More flexible voting could also be achieved through early voting. This could see polling stations open the day before or the weekend before an election, or across multiple days. It would supplement postal voting as a way to give people more options to vote in advance.
People may also be able to vote at any polling station in a local authority area, instead of having to vote at an appointed polling station. This is currently based on where a person lives, but may not always be the most convenient location.
Digital solutions around electoral registers would be required to facilitate some of these ideas and pilots would help develop a thorough understanding of how this would work best.
The Welsh Government outlined these ideas in a letter to the Welsh Local Government Association, with the intention to explore them further in next May’s elections. Local authorities are now considering whether they would like to progress any of these ideas for the 2022 local elections. If pursued, lessons learned would then inform arrangements for future elections, including the Senedd election in 2026 and the local government elections in 2027.
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