This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Electoral Commission report
19/11/2003
The publication of the
Electoral Commission report on the 2003 elections was
welcomed today by Minister for Finance and Public Services
Andy Kerr.
The report looked at the 2003 Scottish Parliament and
local government elections and covered two key areas: the
conduct of the campaign and the administration of the
elections. The Executive will consider the issues raised by
the report in respect of local government elections.
Mr Kerr said:
"I welcome this research and am confident it will be
used to inform the conduct and administration of future
elections. I am determined that the people of Scotland
engage more with all levels of government and anything that
helps us achieve that aim is to be applauded.
"The report shows that, on the whole, the elections ran
smoothly. However, it also highlights that there is some
room for improvement - in particular I am deeply concerned
that less than half of those people on the electoral
register voted in the 2003 Scottish elections. The
Scottish Executive is committed to reforming voting
arrangements in order to increase participation and we have
already taken initial steps to extend the use of postal
voting and we are also looking at the introduction of
electronic voting. The report contains a number of other
recommendations and we will, of course, look at the areas
which fall under our responsibility."
Scottish Elections 2003 looks at the conduct of the
election campaign, including media coverage and the
attitude of voters, and the administration of the elections
by local authorities. The report also includes a review of
the accessibility of elections for voters with
disabilities.
The review of the elections on 1 May was carried out by
the Electoral Commission as part of its statutory remit to
review the conduct of Parliamentary elections. Although
the Electoral Commission's remit does not extend to local
government elections in Scotland, it was agreed with the
Commission that the review should cover these elections as
they were held on the same day and used the same polling
stations and staff.