Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ANGER AT BID TO WIPE VOTERS OFF REGISTER
Sinn Fein blasts electoral ‘purge’ and ‘blatant attempt to suppress rights’
PLANS to remove all voters from the electoral register ahead of next year’s Assembly Election has sparked concern.
Once taken off, voters will have five months between July and December 2021 to re-register online or by paper.
Sinn Fein has branded the move “a blatant attempt to suppress the votes of citizens across the North of Ireland”.
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill has called for a meeting with Secretary of State Brandon Lewis over the plans.
She said: “Plans by the British Government and the Electoral Office to wipe the existing electoral register are very concerning as it could lead to tens of thousands of people losing their vote.
“The Electoral Office should be looking at new and innovative ways of making it easier for people to register and to vote instead of making it harder.
“Sinn Fein has already met with the Chief Electoral Officer to raise our concerns and I have now written to the British Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, calling for a meeting to discuss this matter as soon as possible.”
Ms O’neill’s party colleague, West Belfast MP Paul Maskey, condemned the move “outrageous” amid the pandemic.
He said: “The purge of voters is unacceptable and an incredible action for the Electoral Office to even consider in the middle of a global health crisis.
“A previous register wiping exercise by the Electoral Office resulted in over 60,000 people being taken off the register.
“The right to vote is something which had to be battled for. This proposed action has to be viewed as another attempt to take away votes from people, particularly those from working-class communities.
“In my view it is organised voter suppression by the NIO and the British Government.
Next year’s Assembly election will be defining for the future of our island, citizens should be encouraged to participate in this election and not removed from the register.”
Chief Electoral Officer Virginia Mcvea said she has “met with Sinn Fein to update them on plans for the canvass” which has been delayed for a year “as a consequence of the pandemic”.
She added: “The canvass will open at the start of July and people can register until the start of December.
“The Electoral Office is intent upon supporting everyone in NI who is eligible to get on the register during those five months.”
An Electoral Commission spokesperson: “We will be supporting the Chief Electoral Officer by undertaking public awareness activity to encourage all eligible electors to register.”
Tens of thousands of people could lose their vote MICHELLE O’NEILL YESTERDAY
TODAY is Liberation Day, three weeks from my first Covid jab. I should now have substantial protection from coronavirus.
But I’m still not allowed to celebrate in the appropriate way, by going down the Old White Bear for the afternoon shift.
Nor can I emulate Thatcher with her vainglorious cry of “Rejoice! Rejoice!” when British forces recaptured South Georgia in 1982.
In fact, nothing very much changes. We’re still in lockdown, the pubs are shut, only essential travel is permitted and I can’t have even one friend in for drinks.
Celebrations are perforce muted, but any ray of sunshine is welcome so let’s make the most of it.
I shall walk over the fields and down a lane to my allotment, keeping an ear open for the mournful cry of the curlew, that most reliable harbinger of spring.
I’ll faff about in the greenhouse, maybe planting vegetable seeds in small pots to see if they’ll germinate under glass.
I might even do some remedial paintwork on the wooden shed, aka The Routers’ Return, ready for a grand reopening when we can meet again.
That’s the great thing about allotments – nothing is ever finished. There are endless opportunities for messing about, and you can’t be chided for getting mucky.
It doesn’t matter if the birds – or the bloody deer – eat the produce before it’s even produced. It’s not the competitionlevel cabbages that count, it’s the fresh air and the inconsequential activity.
I’m beginning to feel better already, and I haven’t got my stick out yet. The one I sometimes brandish at speeding motorists. Jings! I must be turning into an old man. When did that happen?