Voting Behaviour

Mrs. Laing
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the consultation on weekend voting offers distinct options of Saturday, Sunday and both Saturday and Sunday and only a single weekday option.

Mr. Wills
The “Election Day: Weekend Voting” consultation paper explains that a General Election may currently be held on any weekday, although local government elections are required to be held on a Thursday. The “Governance of Britain” Green Paper made a commitment to consult on the question of moving elections to the weekend on the basis that there may be advantages in moving in terms of convenience for voters. The benefits that moving elections to a weekday other than Thursday might have in terms of convenience for the voter are less obvious.

Mrs. Laing
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the turnout rate at (a) national and (b) local elections among (i) men and (ii) women in the latest period for which figures are available.

Bridget Prentice
The Government believe that elections must be equally accessible and responsive to the needs of all eligible male and female electors.

A number of surveys have been conducted on behalf of, or used by, the Electoral Commission which provide estimated figures for the percentage of men and women who voted at the national and local elections between 2001 and 2008:

General elections

2001: Male 61 per cent., Female 58 per cent.

2005: Male 62 per cent., Female 61 per cent.

Source:

MORI

Local elections

2008 (England and Wales): Male 48 per cent., Female 42 per cent.1

Source:

ICM

2007 (England): Male 37 per cent., Female 39 per cent.

Source:

GfK NOP

2006 (England): Male 37 per cent., Female 38 per cent.

Source:

BRMB

1 In 2008, unlike in previous years, the research questioned a higher proportion of actual voters (45 per cent. of those who had voted and 55 per cent. of non voters) than had turned out at the poll (the overall turnout was 35 per cent.). As a result, the figures for the percentage of men and women voting do not reflect turnout directly but should be seen as a guide to relative turnout among men and women.

Mrs. Laing
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) men and (b) women voted in the 2005 general election.

Bridget Prentice
Information is not held centrally on the number of men and women who voted in the 2005 general election. However, an independent MORI poll conducted at the time of the 2005 general election estimated that 62 per cent. of men voted compared with 61 per cent. of women.

Mrs. Lait
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what role he expects external opinion research firms to play in the Citizens’ Summit on weekend voting.

Mr. Wills
We are currently exploring the potential use of external opinion research firms to assist in the design and delivery of the deliberative element of the summit.