Blog

Our observers have been returning home from across the UK, and beyond, from their observations of the local elections in England and Northern Ireland. May is always the peak month of activity in the year for Democracy Volunteers with the largest round of elections traditionally being in the first week.

The second round of Voter ID trials have once again seen a large deployment by Democracy Volunteers, seeing some 50+ observers attending polling stations in the councils we observed. In Northern Ireland, we deployed a team of 26 (as well as support staff) and visited almost a quarter of all polling stations in the province. The final results of these observations, in each case, will be available in the near future on the Democracy Volunteers website.

However, 2019 is a particularly challenging electoral year for election observation in the UK, as we continue to predict which elections and/or referendums might appear on the electoral calendar. Two of these elections, which we will now observe, are the European Parliamentary elections, which will be held on 23rd May in the UK, and the Peterborough Parliamentary By-election which will be on 6th June. Other elections continue to be possible.

As such four of our young observers have all agreed to run the Manchester 10k on May 19th to raise funds for Democracy Volunteers to finance our observation of the European Elections in the UK on May 23rd. With your help we can ensure that we deliver a serious deployment across the UK and continue to keep our work free to observe in the UK.

‘The more we observe UK elections, through polling station election observation, the more it becomes clear to us that our work is valuable to both the election authorities and the public. By supporting our work we can make sure that election observation continues all year round in the UK to maintain and improve the quality of UK elections.’

You can support the four runners, on their JustGiving page, HERE.

John Ault is Director of Democracy Volunteers

Between the 3rd and 6th of April, polling stations were open across the UK for voters to cast their ballot in the Finnish Parliamentary Elections. From the Embassy in London all the way to Aberdeen, 2494 voters participated in the process, up from 2060 back in 2015. Democracy Volunteers sent teams across the country to observe the process and are currently arriving across Finland to observe the domestic vote on Sunday the 14th.

One of the polling stations was located at the Methodist Church Hall in my hometown of Solihull. This came as a big surprise to me as I was unaware that the hall where I used to go for Cubs and Scouts over a decade ago, was also the home of a Finnish community centre at the weekend. As soon as we entered, we became aware that our prediction of potentially limited turnout, for an election happening far across the continent, was misled. The hall was instead bustling with families meeting over coffee and homemade cakes, spending time as a community after casting their ballots.

The voting process itself took place in a small room just off the hall, where two polling staff had created their own ballot box and voting booth out of a cardboard box adorned with the Finnish flag and draped in the national colours of Blue and White. After talking to staff and voters in the hall it became clear that the democratic process was one that was celebrated greatly and gave a sense of immense national pride. It is this culture, we were told, that formed the basis of the trust in the system, with unsecured ballot boxes not seen as an issue due to the trusting nature of the community.

There were also interesting differences between the Finnish system and our own, with voters reading through long lists of candidates in the main hall, before writing down their preferred candidate’s number on a blank piece of card in the polling booths. This ensured that queues, for the single booth available, were rare even with the high volume of voters throughout the day. In addition, ballot papers were stamped by the polling staff, to show their legitimacy, before being placed inside an envelope to be sent back to Finland.

Overall the process was rather surreal, the fact that polling for a Finnish election was taking place in my hometown at all was intriguing! After entering, the sense of occasion and celebration within the community was brilliant to see, as was the high turnout, in stark contrast to other elections I’d previously observed. Advanced voting will also take place between the 15th and 18th of May for the European Elections and I look forward to returning to see the celebration of democracy again!

Harry Busz is editor of The Election Observer

One of the key aspects of effective election observation is that observers may arrive at polling stations unannounced, at any time, during the voting or counting process. The reason for this may seem obvious, but if any observer were to have to inform a polling station of a visit, the actions of polling staff might change and not be a proper representation of their normal conduct.

For this reason, the OSCE/ODIHR notes that in order for an election observation to be credible, unimpeded access is a necessity. Yet, in order to ensure that improper actors are not allowed access to the voting process, all observers must be accredited with official accreditation from the governing body in the nation of the observed election. In the UK this is reflected with photo identification worn on a lanyard for each observer proving accreditation from the Electoral Commission. In order to avoid confusion, councils and returning officers are given up to date advice from the Electoral Commission and polling staff are given a ‘Handbook for polling station staff’ which states that:

‘Representatives of the Electoral Commission and other individuals accredited through the Commission’s official observer scheme are entitled to attend all polling station proceedings. They do not need to give advance notification of where they intend to observe, but every observer must carry photographic identification and should not be allowed to observe proceedings without this’ (2019, p.9).

The importance of unimpeded observation was highlighted to me, whilst on a Democracy Volunteers observation of the Newport-West by-election on the 4th of April 2019. During the day our pairing visited around 8 polling stations until we were challenged by the a polling station manager, who questioned our legitimacy. After calmly explaining our rights to be inside the polling stations, and clearly showing our identification cards, from the Electoral Commission, the officer called over two community support officers who were already outside the station. They swiftly informed the police and after we explained the situation to them, they realised that old handbooks, from 2017, were being used by the council and so our legitimate badges were improperly thought to be illegitimate by polling staff. After we contacted the Electoral Commission directly, they were able to solve the issue and we were able to continue our observation, although we were impeded from accessing more polling stations later in the day, as were our other teams across Newport.

Director of Democracy Volunteers, and long time election observer, John Ault who experienced the whole debacle with me stated, ‘it is unacceptable that a Returning Officer and his top staff are not in possession of the facts about how election observation works in the UK.’

‘This is the first occasion that one of our observations has ever been impeded in our accredited role as Europe’s largest domestic election observation group. It is unacceptable that our volunteer observers have had unreasonable restrictions placed on them by the authority entrusted with the conduct of an election of this importance.

‘I will be writing to the Chief Executive of the council, Will Godfrey, in his role as the Deputy Acting Returning Officer for this election, requiring a complete and unqualified explanation for the unreasonable impediments placed on accredited observers, by the authority in the Newport West by-election.

He continued, ‘it simply beggars belief that the authority responsible for the conduct of an election does not issue its staff with up-to-date, correct, advice on the nature of election observation and the accreditation required to attend polling stations.’

Our three teams were challenged a total of five times throughout the day, sometimes held at length, impeding the work they intended to carry out. Not only is this a contravention of the guidance of the Electoral Commission, but it more importantly, prevents observers from being able to give valuable feedback to officials running elections and ensuring democracy is practiced properly. For this reason, it is crucial that up-to-date guidelines are maintained, and these are distributed properly by councils to their polling station staff, so that issues such as this don’t arise in the future.

Harry Busz is editor of The Election Observer and observed the Newport West By-election

I was first drawn to the opportunity of election observation whilst searching for jobs after leaving university. Whilst at University I wrote two dissertations in the field of electoral theory and domestic politics in the UK and found it intriguing. However, I had somehow never learnt about the importance of election observation and so when I found the advert for Democracy Volunteers my interest was sparked. How was it that throughout years of studying elections and the political milieu in education, I had never encountered the topic?

I registered my interest and shortly thereafter attended a training day in Manchester, where the role that observers play was presented, alongside more details on how it is practiced in the field. I knew straight away that it was a role I wanted to explore. My opportunity came only a few weeks after, when I was offered the chance to observe the ‘Provincial and Water Board elections’ in the Netherlands. I had limited knowledge of Dutch politics and was slightly nervous that I had never even heard of a Water Board or worked in any professional capacity abroad before in my life! Even so, early on the 16th of March I headed to Birmingham airport having familiarised myself with some of the issues we would be investigating and headed to Amsterdam.

On arrival I met up with the team which consisted of five other observers, some of whom I had previously met and chatted with at the training day back home. They put my worries at ease straight away as we quickly bonded through discussing politics, each other’s interests, playing games and even having a few drinks! During most of the week we were based in The Hague where we stayed in an apartment. In the first few days, I gained deeper knowledge about Dutch electoral processes that we would be evaluating as well as the politics of the region. This was done through reviewing new policies implemented by the Dutch government, reading detailed outlines of the domestic political parties and issues and a variety of meetings with stakeholders and key actors in Dutch elections. For me, this was one of the most rewarding parts of the trip as we were able to have meetings with senior officials from the Dutch central government, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and city councils. A combination of the welcoming nature of the Dutch authorities and that Democracy Volunteers had previously given helpful ideas on how to improve the electoral process, meant we had incredible access to the powers that be. We were even able to discuss our work with officials at the British Embassy which was a highlight!

This was a completely new experience to me, which was slightly daunting, but we were encouraged to ask questions and actively participate in the meetings which taught me a lot about how the elections were run. It also gave me interests in areas I had never thought about in much detail, for example the issues surrounding the extensive use of proxy voting in The Netherlands as well as the logistics of carrying out an election.

On election day itself, we were put into pairs and any inexperienced observers, such as me, were coupled with a more expert observer. By the time we came to set out to our list of polling stations in Amsterdam and Leiden my partner, Luis, and I had established our route to cover as much ground as possible. We were able to observe in a wide variety of polling stations from schools to hotels and council buildings to train stations whilst assessing the quality of them and the voting occurring within. At first this seems very strange. An environment that one is usually exposed to for a few minutes every couple of years becomes your place of work for the day. I had previously been shown what to expect and watch out for when entering the polling stations such as number of voters, instances of family voting and the level of accessibility. Throughout the day we were able to witness many interesting scenarios, such as voters discussing their ballots and attempting to vote without ID, which were handled to differing extents by polling staff. Although the elections were well run in general, seeing these instances of improper voting was fascinating as it demonstrated the challenges that are still present, even in one of the most highly regarded democratic systems on the in the world. Furthermore, during the observation we were able to witness democracy in action, which is extremely fulfilling as we watched a vast array of voters make their decisions and interact with the democratic process.

A further benefit of observing abroad was the opportunity to travel around the country. I had previously been to the Netherlands, but never set foot outside Amsterdam, like most Brits. However, through traveling to meetings and on election day itself, I was able to experience the culture and beauty of multiple cities such as The Hague, Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft. As someone who loves to travel the observation provided a great opportunity to soak in much more of the country and experience the people and places through a different lens to that possible through a holiday.

Following my experience, I would highly recommend anyone with an interest in elections and politics to leap at the opportunity to observe, whether in the UK or abroad. Not only is it a great opportunity to attain a greater knowledge of the electoral process in a foreign nation, it allows you the opportunity to travel, meet great people and immerse yourself in something you find interesting. So, if you are thinking about giving it a go, don’t let any worries you have hold you back, you won’t regret it!

Harry Busz gained degrees in Geography at Cardiff University followed by a Master’s in International Relations at Exeter University, he begins a new job in local government next month

Western democracies face some surprising challenges both internally and externally. Many countries are concerned about international interference and online measures that can affect elections. People are also concerned about the integrity of online and electronic voting but our election observations over the past few years have thrown up a less technological challenge to the democratic process.

It is much less obvious and less coordinated, but just as challenging to the democratic process. It is something that undermines the chance for individuals to cast their vote the way they wish, without interference, challenge or even the knowledge of another voter.

However, all too often, irrespective of geography or community, we see voters entering polling booths together, discussing how they vote, seeing how each other votes and then leaving. This is family voting. It is, at its most simple, a breach of a fundamental right – the secret ballot.

I’ve been told it’s not the challenge to democracy that we think it is. But we see it repeatedly in polling stations in the UK and abroad. It is illegal in all those countries where we see it as it is a breach of the secret ballot. I have even been told, by a female TV journalist in Sweden, ‘they don’t seem to mind.’ However, how do we know they don’t mind? How do we know that a woman being helped by her husband is happy to be helped?

Readers may think that this is something that is isolated and rare, but we observed this in:

• 44% of polling stations we observed in the Swedish General Election in Sept 2018
• 22% of polling stations we observed in the Irish Abortion Referendum in May 2018
• 14% of polling stations we observed in the Dutch local elections in March 2018

However, this is not just something we see in other countries we see it as much, if not more, in the UK:

• 58% of polling stations we observed in Tower Hamlets in May 2018
• 18% of polling stations we observed across the UK in the June 2017 General Election
• 43% of polling stations we observed across Northern Ireland in March 2017

Family voting most affects young voters, older voters and women. These are the groups that receive most interference from other voters and have the secrecy of their ballot compromised.

However, what concerns me most, isn’t simply that voters do not know not to indulge in family voting, it is that electoral officials rarely interrupt the practice to try to prevent it.

‘Family voting’ will continue to be a focus for election observation whether in the West or other democracies.

John Ault is Director of Democracy Volunteers

I am regularly asked, when I am observing an election in a western country, like the UK: ‘shouldn’t you be somewhere where democracy is not as established?’ or something equivalent. I then explain that ‘no democracy is perfect’ and justify why we, at Democracy Volunteers, have deployed dozens of observers across areas like Surrey where there is no belief that election observation is necessary.

In fact, I have spoken to those who have observed elections for the OSCE/ODIHR or the EU who also assert that there is no need for election observation in the UK or similar countries. Presumably this is a based in the assumption that not only are these democracies more established but they are also highly functional and deliver accurate results which the public accept.

My disquiet was exacerbated when I attended a conference in 2018, at the LSE, concerning the future of election observation at which a range of speakers talked about observation as if it were something done at people not by people. The deployment of observers acted as a ‘deterrent’ to countries which might attempt to manipulate the electoral process to their own ends.

Democracy Volunteers is a members of GNDEM which is the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors. It has 251 member organisations in 89 countries and territories from across the world as members. Many are active in their pursuit of ensuring that elections are conducted properly in their countries but are also share best practice to ensure that other groups also observe using rigorous processes and established rules.

What concerns me about the attitudes of those in the west is that often it seems that they believe that they have a monopoly on best practice and competency. As a consequence we should export that competency rather than also ensuring our own democracy is fit for purpose.

In 2018, we identified some concerning issues in elections in Western Europe, especially concerning family voting. Without our work in the UK, or those of other domestic observer groups around the world these would not come to light and election authorities would not be able to even consider how to improve the electoral process.

John Ault is Director of Democracy Volunteers