Roll up for election time

DISCONTENT with this States has reached a volume not seen before.

That is for a variety of reasons, contentious decisions that impact on peoples' everyday lives being just one.

Each government will be involved in those, but the ability for critical sectors of the public to voice their opinion quickly and vociferously through social media, has magnified things like never before, as has the ability to organise protests at the click of a button.

Now the first stage of the general election to decide on the next intake of the electorate is under way with the opening today of the electoral roll.

This is the chance for the public to make a difference to the make-up and agenda of the next States – in effect partially passing its judgment on this one.

It is not without its challenges.

The States is now engaged in an exercise to get as many people signed up on the roll as possible.

Turnout figures in Guernsey are high compared to Jersey and the UK – once people are on the roll there is a good chance they will vote.

That is healthy for democracy.

One of the key targets will be getting young people signed up. Guernsey was relatively quick to move to allow 16-year-olds to have the vote and the evidence is clear that engaging people when they are young means they are more likely to vote in the future.

There are a few complications surrounding this period.

Firstly, in December there will be a by-election in St Peter Port North.

Historically, turnouts for by-elections are low.

When Graham Guille was elected to the Vale in 2003 there were just 973 people voting, a 20% turnout, and that was for a nine-month term.

Jenny Tasker won a seat in St Peter Port south with 306 votes – in total there were 963 people voting, a 32.5% turnout.

This time there will be a new electoral roll being compiled, which wasn't the case with those two elections, so those wanting to vote in the by-election need to sign up quick to do so.

Those behind the roll say that there tends to be an early and late surge for sign-ups.

They will concentrate early efforts in St Peter Port North, a district where there were the second lowest numbers signed up to vote in 2012 – 3,653 – with the second lowest turnout on election day itself.

The by-election will no doubt be seen as a stepping stone to securing a seat in 2016. It will certainly allow those candidates a platform and profile they would not have had otherwise.

An added complication in the background of this stems from the reforms to the structure of government.

We know there will be seven fewer deputies, but we do not know where the axe is going to fall.

It seems unlikely the States will plump for shifting the St Peter Port north/south boundary given what that would mean for those who may end up voting in one district for the by-election and another just months later in the general election, but that is one of the options.

There is plenty to invigorate interest in this election.

Issues like the transport strategy, tax changes, housing costs, the future of the 11-plus and secondary education as well as the waste strategy will all be in the public eye.

They are all very tangible issues for the electorate, something that did not happen to the same degree before the 2012 vote.

That should help with the campaign to get people engaged and signed up to the roll.

As will being able to make use of the traditional and new media tools.

Engaging new campaign groups such as Enough is Enough, as well as more traditional bodies like the WI, will be married together with simply walking the streets and face-to-face interaction.

It is a labour-intensive exercise and one that may well have to be examined in the future.

There are some strong arguments to move to an opt-out system, using the live information the States is already making use of for the e-census to keep the electoral roll rolling along.

It would save money and the time of both voters and those compiling the roll.