00:00Most people who had the chance to vote in the most recent local elections chose not to.
00:07Official figures show turnouts stayed low across different types of vote,
00:11with participation well below half of those eligible.
00:15That pattern has been seen over many years, but with further elections now approaching,
00:21there is renewed focus on why people stay away from the ballot box
00:24and whether more should be done to encourage them to take part.
00:28There's undoubtedly what's known as a democratic deficit in this country,
00:32insofar as that the majority of people, certainly in local elections, do not turn out much better in national elections.
00:39And the all-time sort of turnout was for the Brexit vote, which happened almost 10 years ago this June.
00:45So clearly people are incentivised, if that's the right way to put it,
00:49to turn out when it sort of suits them, they think that something's really at stake.
00:53And the fact, coming back to local elections, that they don't believe that it's necessary to sort of to exercise
00:58their right,
00:59to choose the candidates who are going to take crucial decisions in terms of local services.
01:04And, of course, that's what local elections are really about.
01:07You know, things like the sort of the social services and perhaps education and the bins perhaps,
01:14which, of course, in certain areas, of course, has been a big issue.
01:17I'm thinking particularly of the city of Birmingham, perhaps.
01:20So maybe there will be sort of more of a sort of turnout where people think that they can sort
01:24of exercise sort of some judgment
01:26and hopefully sort of resolve that.
01:28But by and large, how do you get people to want to sort of to participate?
01:32And it's an age old problem. It's nothing new.
01:34And so there are various things, of course, we hope that sort of people are, you know, they feel sufficiently
01:39engaged.
01:40But quite clearly, for most people, no, it's it's not something that they sort of they feel any sort of
01:46obligation to do.
01:47The latest data shows turnout in county council elections was just over a third,
01:52with similar levels in unitary authorities and slightly lower in mayoral contests.
01:58That means roughly two in three eligible voters did not cast their ballot.
02:03Research suggests participation varies widely between groups.
02:07Older people and homeowners are generally more likely to vote,
02:11while younger adults, renters and some lower income groups are less likely to take part.
02:17Turnout has also been falling over time in several types of election,
02:21particularly where the perceived stakes are lower or where voters feel less connected to local decision making.
02:28I suspect most people feel it doesn't make any difference.
02:31Same old, same old.
02:33Of course, we had the sort of the general election, you know, less than two years ago.
02:36And again, that was a pretty poor turnout.
02:39And of course, I know on the system there, of course, first past the post and all that,
02:43we got a sort of majority government that doesn't represent the sort of wish of the people.
02:47Only 20 percent of the sort of the people entitled to vote actually voted for them.
02:51And that is a sort of difficulty.
02:53But of course, the contrary to that is that if people don't like the decisions are taken, then do something
02:58about it.
02:59Vote, maybe even sort of stand for sort of for election if you wish.
03:03But again, so the established party, there is a sort of a sense of sort of, yeah, that they operate
03:09in their own interests.
03:10I know that's not particularly sort of true for the vast majority.
03:13But nonetheless, that sort of the system sort of continues, as it always did somehow, perhaps we sort of need
03:19a radical shakeup.
03:20And maybe we'll get it insofar as, of course, we'll have newer, more radical parties.
03:26And we'll see what the results of that are.
03:28And perhaps we won't like that either.
03:30It's a real difficult one.
03:31There is ongoing debate about how to address that gap.
03:34Some point to countries such as Australia, where voting is compulsory as one possible model.
03:41Others argue that making voting mandatory could increase resentment or disengagement.
03:46Alternative ideas include automatically registering voters, lowering the voting age or expanding access to postal and digital systems.
03:55There are also calls to improve public understanding of what local councils and mayors do
04:01and how decisions made at that level can affect everyday services, from transport and housing to local taxes.
04:08Some sort of proportional representation system.
04:10But, of course, that adds an additional sort of complexity.
04:14And, of course, you know, people just putting an X to the can that they most like.
04:17We've seen that in European elections, where, of course, we get something like a single transferable vote.
04:23And, indeed, in sort of the mayoral elections, that was tried.
04:26So it can work and people sort of work with it.
04:28I think also maybe what we need to think about, we live in a sort of electronic age,
04:34something whereby we get something very instantaneous that people don't need to go to sort of polling booths and sort
04:39of electronic voting.
04:40But, again, that's ridden with all sorts of sort of issues about sort of irregularities and sort of fraud in
04:46voting and so on.
04:47But, hey, you know, we've got an imperfect system.
04:49So maybe we should try and make it better.
04:51With further elections now looming, turnout is likely to remain under scrutiny.
04:56Any changes to the system would require political agreement and legislation, which may take time.
05:03For now, the focus remains on encouraging more people to take part,
05:07as questions continue over how engaged voters feel with decisions made in their communities.
05:13Peace.
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