ELECTION COUNTDOWN
Rhydian Thomas, head of the Electoral Commission Wales, urges people to make sure they are registered to vote for the Senedd elections
THE campaign for the 2021 elections is well under way across Wales. While the election will take place on May 6, the deadline to register to vote is tomorrow.
This year, for the first time, 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in the Senedd elections.
This is a hugely important development in our democracy and in the history of the Senedd, as roughly 66,000 more young people are now eligible.
But being eligible is only the first step – before casting a vote, you must apply to be on the electoral register.
The electoral registers are the basis on which someone can vote, so it’s crucial to be correctly registered.
Our role, as the Electoral Commission, is to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity. We know those that haven’t voted before can have questions about registering and voting, and be unsure how the systems work.
That’s why we launched a digital awareness campaign, “Welcome to your vote”, aimed at providing this information to newly enfranchised groups in Wales.
Recent research also showed us that if voters are interested early on, there’s an increased chance that they will be an engaged and active voter for their entire lives – and that’s something we want to build on. So, we’ve created a set of resources, for young people in Wales, and their educators, to explain how to vote and why their vote matters. The information is on our website and includes interactive videos, quizzes and handbooks.
In many ways the pandemic has helped raise awareness of devolution across Wales, but there is still a lot of uncertainty about the different roles of the Senedd and the UK Parliament, and how they work.
The Senedd has powers to make laws for Wales on a range of areas including health, the economy, education, housing, transport and varying some taxes. We’ve included information about the responsibility of the Senedd and its members as part of our resources, as well as the UK Parliament and local councils, in the hope of helping to make this clearer.
Across Wales a huge amount of work has also been undertaken by democratic organisations, grassroots organisations, charities and community leaders to raise awareness of the franchise change and promote participation among young people.
We have been working alongside partners, including schools and youth groups to help share our voter messaging and education resources. We know that partnership is key in ensuring as many new voters as possible get involved, get informed and use their vote.
The upcoming elections may be unique against the backdrop of the pandemic, but the democratic processes remain the same.
As always, there are options for how to cast a vote – at a polling station, by post, or by appointing someone you trust to vote as a proxy on your behalf.
Over the last year a lot of planning has gone into making sure polling stations will be safe places to vote.
Anyone voting in person can expect many of the measures we’ve seen in recent months in shops and other public places, such as hand sanitiser, floor markings and face coverings.
There are also provisions put in place to ensure nobody misses out on the opportunity to vote if they are unwell with Covid-19 on polling day or need to self-isolate. An emergency proxy vote can be applied for from the electoral registration team at your local council up until 5pm on polling day.
So, whether you’re voting for the first or 15th time, make sure you’re registered and ready to vote on May 6. www.