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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/21/british-democracy-voting-establishment-power-manipulation
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| Want to make British democracy fairer? First make it easier to vote | Want to make British democracy fairer? First make it easier to vote |
| (10 days later) | |
| One hundred years ago on Wednesday, women could stand for parliament for the first time. Earlier that year, certain women won the right to vote. While these two things were done within months of each other, the vote came with a number of conditions (women had to be over the age of 30 and own property), while standing for parliament had none. From this we might say the establishment was more relaxed about women trying to become MPs than it was about them voting – most probably because getting elected was, and continues to be, a process fraught with all kinds of hurdles, not least financial ones. And a century later, those in power are happy to talk about representation but keen to make it more difficult for people to vote. | One hundred years ago on Wednesday, women could stand for parliament for the first time. Earlier that year, certain women won the right to vote. While these two things were done within months of each other, the vote came with a number of conditions (women had to be over the age of 30 and own property), while standing for parliament had none. From this we might say the establishment was more relaxed about women trying to become MPs than it was about them voting – most probably because getting elected was, and continues to be, a process fraught with all kinds of hurdles, not least financial ones. And a century later, those in power are happy to talk about representation but keen to make it more difficult for people to vote. |
| This lawless world of online political ads is anti-democratic | Paul Chadwick | |
| Progress on representation has been too slow. Only 208 of our 650 MPs are women, 52 MPs are of colour, 27 are women of colour, five are disabled, and 45 define themselves as LGBT; a disproportionate number are privately educated. When you look at a list like that, it’s hard to argue representation doesn’t matter at all; parliament should reflect who makes up Britain. | Progress on representation has been too slow. Only 208 of our 650 MPs are women, 52 MPs are of colour, 27 are women of colour, five are disabled, and 45 define themselves as LGBT; a disproportionate number are privately educated. When you look at a list like that, it’s hard to argue representation doesn’t matter at all; parliament should reflect who makes up Britain. |
| The problem is with how it’s imagined as some automatic pass to creating a fair society and the ways it’s used to gloss over the many problems of our political system. What’s the point of representation, for instance, if not everyone can vote? | The problem is with how it’s imagined as some automatic pass to creating a fair society and the ways it’s used to gloss over the many problems of our political system. What’s the point of representation, for instance, if not everyone can vote? |
| One hundred years on from efforts to make British democracy somewhat fairer, the government likes to claim it cares about equality – but it has its sights on making it more difficult for people to cast their ballots. In 2015, individual voter registration was introduced and 1 million people fell off the electoral register. In the local elections this year voter ID laws were trialled and 350 people weren’t allowed to vote just because they didn’t have the right form of identification with them. Evidence suggests if these plans were rolled out across the country it would affect poorer people and the already marginalised. There are also people excluded from voting; only a small handful of prisoners are able to take part in the democratic process. All of this energy is put into making the route to voting more complex when what we need is the opposite. | One hundred years on from efforts to make British democracy somewhat fairer, the government likes to claim it cares about equality – but it has its sights on making it more difficult for people to cast their ballots. In 2015, individual voter registration was introduced and 1 million people fell off the electoral register. In the local elections this year voter ID laws were trialled and 350 people weren’t allowed to vote just because they didn’t have the right form of identification with them. Evidence suggests if these plans were rolled out across the country it would affect poorer people and the already marginalised. There are also people excluded from voting; only a small handful of prisoners are able to take part in the democratic process. All of this energy is put into making the route to voting more complex when what we need is the opposite. |
| When I explained how the system worked here to one of my friends who lives in Germany, they couldn’t believe you had to remember and find the time to register to vote. In Europe’s most powerful country, you’re automatically enrolled to vote when you when you turn 16; you’re put on the electoral register when you get a national ID card and you’re required to register where you live with your local municipality. That means if you’re over the age of 18, you automatically get your election documents sent to your registered residence. In a lot of places automatic voter enrolment is commonplace. In Oregon, recent changes mean anyone who uses the US state’s department of motor vehicles is entered on the voter roll. | When I explained how the system worked here to one of my friends who lives in Germany, they couldn’t believe you had to remember and find the time to register to vote. In Europe’s most powerful country, you’re automatically enrolled to vote when you when you turn 16; you’re put on the electoral register when you get a national ID card and you’re required to register where you live with your local municipality. That means if you’re over the age of 18, you automatically get your election documents sent to your registered residence. In a lot of places automatic voter enrolment is commonplace. In Oregon, recent changes mean anyone who uses the US state’s department of motor vehicles is entered on the voter roll. |
| These aren’t guidelines for how to ensure people can vote; ID cards and other forms of monitoring can be routes to eroding civil liberties. But making it easier for people to vote without encroaching on their rights is possible: in parts of the US, they have same-day voter registration. Instead of the set-up we have in the UK, where you have to register months or weeks ahead of election day, in some states you can show up on the day and cast your ballot. There are all kinds of reasons people don’t register to vote; they might forget or find it too complicated. So why exclude them from the process with administrative hurdles when life is busy and difficult enough? | These aren’t guidelines for how to ensure people can vote; ID cards and other forms of monitoring can be routes to eroding civil liberties. But making it easier for people to vote without encroaching on their rights is possible: in parts of the US, they have same-day voter registration. Instead of the set-up we have in the UK, where you have to register months or weeks ahead of election day, in some states you can show up on the day and cast your ballot. There are all kinds of reasons people don’t register to vote; they might forget or find it too complicated. So why exclude them from the process with administrative hurdles when life is busy and difficult enough? |
| While they find ways to game the system, establishment politicians parade around the importance of representation even though they have no intention of or interest in changing an economic system that thrives off low-paid work and gender and race pay gaps. Having a woman home secretary and then prime minister who wears “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirts, hasn’t meant gender equality. The people who have suffered the most under austerity, a package of cuts supported by the most senior Tory woman? Women of colour. The son of Pakistani migrants being in charge of the Home Office hasn’t somehow transformed the government’s unjust immigration regime. Just like the economy, there’s no such thing as trickle-down equality. That’s why apolitical representation is welcomed, political diversity scorned and making it harder for people to vote seems like a goal. | While they find ways to game the system, establishment politicians parade around the importance of representation even though they have no intention of or interest in changing an economic system that thrives off low-paid work and gender and race pay gaps. Having a woman home secretary and then prime minister who wears “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirts, hasn’t meant gender equality. The people who have suffered the most under austerity, a package of cuts supported by the most senior Tory woman? Women of colour. The son of Pakistani migrants being in charge of the Home Office hasn’t somehow transformed the government’s unjust immigration regime. Just like the economy, there’s no such thing as trickle-down equality. That’s why apolitical representation is welcomed, political diversity scorned and making it harder for people to vote seems like a goal. |
| Change doesn’t just come from parliamentary processes; political power isn’t confined to the ballot box, and democracy is manipulated in all kinds of ways. But if the democratic process is as important as politicians like to claim, one way to improve it is making it easier, not harder for people to vote. | Change doesn’t just come from parliamentary processes; political power isn’t confined to the ballot box, and democracy is manipulated in all kinds of ways. But if the democratic process is as important as politicians like to claim, one way to improve it is making it easier, not harder for people to vote. |
| • Maya Goodfellow is a writer and researcher | • Maya Goodfellow is a writer and researcher |
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