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Chamber and committees

10 Million Missing Voters

  • Submitted by: Claire Baker, Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour.
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2016
  • Motion reference: S4M-15307
  • Current status: Taken in the Chamber on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

That the Parliament notes with concern the report by the Smith Institute, 10 million missing voters!: a briefing report on the failings of the new electoral registration system, which claims that as many as 10 million people may not be registered to vote across the UK; understands that recent changes to voter registration toward a system of individual electoral registration could have seen as many as 230,000 voters in Scotland, including in Mid Scotland and Fife, lost from the electoral register, making it one of the worst affected regions in the UK; believes that this will have an adverse impact and will create a democratic deficit in the lead up to the 2016 Scottish election and the referendum on EU membership; understands also that the Boundary Commission for Scotland is due to begin reviewing constituency boundaries in 2016; believes that such a large number of unregistered voters will result in distorted electoral maps and underrepresentation of urban areas and young people, renters, certain ethnic minorities and students, and notes the view that the number of unregistered voters in Scotland and throughout the UK is something that all political parties should work to address.


Supported by: Christian Allard, Jackie Baillie, Sarah Boyack, Lesley Brennan, Malcolm Chisholm, Patricia Ferguson, Neil Findlay, John Finnie, Iain Gray, Cara Hilton, Alison Johnstone, Hanzala Malik, John Mason, Mark McDonald, Margaret McDougall, Anne McTaggart, Elaine Murray, Richard Simpson, Kevin Stewart, Jean Urquhart