Election sign-up battle rolls over to the second stage
THE race to get people to sign up to the electoral roll has entered its second stage.
THE race to get people to sign up to the electoral roll has entered its second stage.
It is the first part of the battle in getting people to vote and the most difficult.
Those behind the roll have set themselves a target of 35,000 people, just above what the much-maligned old electoral roll totalled, but from a starting point of nothing.
So far, 22,000 people have signed up, but the initial rush has subsided and it is time to turn attention to those who have opted out of political engagement.
It is futile and perhaps condescending to lecture people into getting on the roll. Arguments about people dying for the right to vote will wash over them because the reality is they do not believe their vote will make a difference.
It is an age-old conundrum, one which blights many democracies, but the reality is that the way Guernsey is governed lends itself to apathy.
With no political parties, there are no party machines to get people signed up and engaged – instead it is left to the civil service, which can go only so far.
Manifestos are wishy-washy affairs because no one person can guarantee they can change anything – they are one among 47 States members, not part of a guaranteed bloc.
Guernsey is very unlikely to engage party politics any time soon, so these encumbrances will continue for some time.
Island-wide voting has often been touted as the vehicle to get the electorate engaged, but has been placed in the wilderness yet again.
So the system is reliant on things such as habit, a sense of duty and the personalities in the frame.
There will no doubt be another flurry of people signing up as the runners and riders become clearer and the election issues begin to bite.
The electoral roll and turnouts are always greater when there is genuine dissatisfaction or major polarising issues that have caught the imagination – people always like to be able to vote something down.
So is anything doing enough to light the political touch-paper in Guernsey?
Well, in assessing this Assembly, there has been a tendency for procrastination and U-turns.
Zero-10 still looms large, an issue that managed to damage the polling of then Treasury minister Lyndon Trott in 2008.
There will be no repeat of that, because his successor, Charles Parkinson, is adamant he will not stand.
As personal tax rises increase noticeably in proportion to those levied on the corporate sector, this is likely to form a narrative next year.
No election held in the current economic climate could escape it becoming a major talking point. There will also be a principled debate about how quickly to eliminate the deficit and how tightly the purse strings should be held when it comes to services and capital projects.
Expect deputies' pay to be in the limelight – could a report that is shortly to be released find itself trying to sell a pay rise of perhaps £8,000 in compensation for the scrapping of the very generous pension scheme?
The bus service and paid parking go hand in hand in so many people's minds and with Environment battling to save the scheduled service as Island Coachways ends its contract on the eve of the election, this is likely to be a live issue and one which could damage the incumbents associated with it.
Waste has remained an election issue since 2004 and just as happened that time around, the solution will straddle two Assemblies – there is a vociferous lobby on this one, a voting lobby at that.
But is anyone likely to sign up just to have their say on this issue alone?
Population policy, so key to shaping the future of the island, will remain unresolved once the ballot boxes open – it is likely that all this States will do is set a whole load of workstreams in progress. But they will be debating it early next year, just in time for it to perhaps smoulder.
But again this is an abstract issue that needs someone to add colour to the story to make it really engage.
Education will be very much in the melting pot.
Last time it was student loans, something some believe did for then deputy Education minister Wendy Morgan, while this time the exposure of the GCSE results has left the remaining department members damaged and very much banking on the independent investigation – which should be released around December, as minds turn to election time – giving them some breathing space.
If anything set the blogosphere chatting locally so far this term, it has been this.
Of course, the other big story from the later part of 2011 has been the UK's moves against Guernsey's fulfilment industry – as the election hits, deputies could be facing up to hundreds of job losses and the disappearance of a major income source.
Wrapped up in both the zero-10 and fulfilment debates is the question of the island's relationship with the UK and Europe – the move for greater independence will be on at least a few people's cards.
It is still early days, elections make a story of their own and a momentum may be created out of an issue that has not yet broken.
And some of it will all come down to the runners and their ability to set the election alight.
The Home Department is now facing the challenge of engaging those who have not yet signed up.
Work has been done on the youth vote, engaging that 16- to 18-year-old bracket by educating them on the mechanics of the States and the key issues, something not enough attention was paid to before the last election.
Last term it was a novelty, now it must be hoped it has become part of the culture.
It has never been easier to get on the electoral roll – with a few clicks of a mouse button, anyone can be part of it.
But it is still a tough sell to the habitually apathetic. Until there is reform of the structures of government that mean candidates can stand on manifestos that they can pursue, or an issue really catches the imagination across the population, it will remain an uphill battle.
