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SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS
- There is some evidence to suggest that turnout of
voters was higher than it would have been if the scheme
had not applied. However, the use of the postal-only
ballot appears to have two conflicting impacts. For a
significant minority who were apprehensive about the
method, it appears to have somewhat depressed their
normal tendency to vote. On the other hand, there does
also appear to be a small proportion of the electorate
who tend not to vote in other elections, but did cast
their vote in the by-election, perhaps because it was a
postal ballot.
- As a group, opponents of postal-only ballots were
more likely to say they 'always' vote in General,
Scottish and European Parliament elections, but they
were less likely to have voted in the Colinton
by-election. The most common reasons electors gave for
not voting were that they forgot, were too busy, or
were uninterested.
- There appears to be a small core of non-voters for
whom the mechanism for casting their votes makes no
difference to how likely they are to vote. Thus,
although, postal voting may increase turnout, there is
likely to be a minority that will not be swayed by any
changes in the voting method.
- The materials sent to electors with their ballot
papers were overwhelmingly recorded as the most common
source of helpful information on how to cast their
vote, cited by 76% of those aware of the by-election,
with the efforts of the political parties and
candidates mentioned by just 9%, and the media by
2%.
- The simplified procedure and the low number of
ballot papers rejected, when considered alongside the
high turnout, would suggest that an all postal poll
provided a system which was straightforward and easy
for voters to understand.
- While half of respondents felt that voting by post
was open to fraud or abuse, no evidence was found to
suggest that the pilot scheme actually resulted in an
increase in personation or other malpractice. The
post-election integrity check carried out by the
Council was specifically designed as an additional
security test. However, some level of concern does
persist among the electorate and party workers that an
all postal system is potentially less secure. This
perception will require to be addressed if all postal
polls are to be more widely used.
- The all postal process was considerably more
expensive than a by-election carried out using
conventional arrangements. It may be, however, that
there would be some economies of scale were all postal
elections to become more widely used.
- Around nine in ten (86%) voters said their overall
experience of casting their vote in the by-election was
'
good', including 61% who said it was
very good. On the other hand, 7% said their
experience was '
poor', including 4% who said it was
very poor. Nearly all of those who said their
experience was poor were also opposed to the use of
postal-only ballots in future elections, a group
comprising 5% of the electorate in Colinton.
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