Over 10,000 Missing Voters...

[Dunner]

Front Page of the newspaper today. Where has everybody gone?

[localyokel]

Front Page of the newspaper today. Where has everybody gone?

 

We assume of course that they were here to start with, rather than superficially here for tax purposes and made sure they were on the electoral role in case the UK or Irish tax man did a check.

[John Wright]

What is really worrying is that when the Boundary Committee last looked at this it found about 5% under registration. ie comparing resident qualified population from the census with the registered voter list showed that about 5% were not registered to vote, . The tendency was high in town and low in country areas.

 

This list includes 16 & 17 year olds for the first time. That should have increased it by over 2,000.

 

If it has gone down to 47, 500 it isn't just 10,500 missing its the 2,000 youngsters as well and the 2.500 approx who did not register before. That is 15,000 missing. It is so serious that it almost stops democracy from working.

 

As a very rough approximation we have a 76,000 population with, on average 1,000 people fpr each yera of life. We have approximately 1,000 births and deaths per yera. You would expect 60, 000 on the register. It really means that a whopping 25% of the electorate has gone walk about! that means if we get a turn out of less than 66.67% that less than half of the entitled population are engaging in the electoral process

 

If it hits 50% it means that less than 40 % are engaged

 

When you translate that into who the Keys represents, given our strange mix of single, two and three seat and vote constituencies the elected members will be lucky to represent more than 15% of the age qualified adult poulation.

 

Which if you think about it is about the same as a presidential US election with a 30% approx turn out and an equality of hanging chads

[mojomonkey]

I've just looked under the cushions on the settee and those voters aren't there. I did find twenty pence though

[Minxie]

A little while ago I applied for a permit for the local amenities site, and was told that I wasn't on the electoral role for the area. I thought it was a bit odd as I always send back the form each year - this explains it !!

[hboy]

A little while ago I applied for a permit for the local amenities site, and was told that I wasn't on the electoral role for the area. I thought it was a bit odd as I always send back the form each year - this explains it !!

 

Its quite fitting that in order to throw away rubbish you have to be registered to vote.

[Dunner]

This list includes 16 & 17 year olds for the first time. That should have increased it by over 2,000.

 

How many 16 & 17 year olds do you know who would actually be bothered to register to vote? Other than maybe the odd one or two I doubt there would be any.

[Minxie]

How many 16 & 17 year olds do you know who would actually be bothered to register to vote? Other than maybe the odd one or two I doubt there would be any.

 

As you fill in one form per household, I would imagine that the parents would fill in the form to include their 16 & 17 year old children.

[Albert Tatlock]

If 10,000 people are missing from the list - I would suggest it is also a possibility that there are people on the list that shouldn't be on it anymore (I wonder if Mrs. Bananas, Humphrey Boa-Gart and Snowball 1 are on there for example?)

 

IMHO, if they want to encourage people to vote they really need to hand out the electoral registration forms in the same way they hand out the census forms (probably not at the same time as the census is supposedly anonymous) i.e. drop it off and make sure it is collected.

 

That way people can say either 'thanks very much - I filled it in' or 'I opt not to use this right thanks'. IMHO, I don't think you should be forced to vote, but I do think you should be asked whether you want to. With 10K people 'missing' somethings gone wrong, so surely they need to address it somehow?

 

I would imagine that many people do not put themselves on the electoral list for a variety of reasons such as junk mail, getting tracked by the CSA, ex-partners or debt companies etc. Guarantees that the register will only be used and released for electoral purposes would likely encourage more people to register. There may well be two lists - but I don't think people are yet convinced that their data is adequately protected even though one list is supposed to be not for release other than to candidates (as far as I am aware).

[hboy]

The Govts comments in the Indy are fair really.

 

From time to time they have to cull the data - how many people on the lists were double entries, people who have left, have several addresses, or who are untraceable, or people here for tax reasons that are not here really. That does not mean there are less voters, just that there are less people registered to vote. But if these 10,000 people were not really here or have gone the net result is the same. In fact the 10,000 less figure could be the first accurate figure for decades - it will be interesting to see how they tie up with the census.

 

MHK's stop moaning. At least turnout figures should be up! Perhaps thats why turnout was so crap the last time around. Because lots of people registered to vote basically left years ago or have died etc.

[John Wright]

hboy,

 

I think you miss the point.

 

With a 76,000 population there should be 60,000 voters

 

Only 47,000 are registered, that means at least 13,000 missing, it isn't duplicatio its failure to register or errors in registration

[hboy]

hboy,

 

I think you miss the point.

 

With a 76,000 population there should be 60,000 voters

 

Only 47,000 are registered, that means at least 13,000 missing, it isn't duplicatio its failure to register or errors in registration

 

Only 47,000 are CURRENTLY registered because there are doubts over the accuracy of the 10,000 removed. We are not saying that the 10,000 are no longer here. Just that the validity of their status needs to be questioned and they need to re-register.

 

In reality the 10,000 people removed may not be the 10,000 people that re-register because some people will have come, and some others gone in the intervening years. But the broad data will be the same as the population has not changed too much. But the individual people who make up the population would have changed considerably.

[manxchatterbox]

10,000 - all gone. didn't you wonder about those bright lights in the sky and in your dreams hearing about a place better than where you are...and the the red blue white lights....

 

 

....and when/where did Humph B visit the Island,,,,?

[stookie]

all goes to prove we must be one of the most 'over-governed' democracies on the planet

[La_Dolce_Vita]

Is it just me though or do you think there is a serious problem with the politizisation(is this a word) of the Island's population. I have to say I share the apathy of many in regard to Manx politics, much of that though is down to my education. I know far more about the political system in England and Westminster than the Isle of Man, I doubt I am some sort of anomaly in this respect. I don't remember being taught anything about the Isle of Man, least of all it's political structure. The only things I have tended to grasp as I reached my 20s is the Islands government is apparently corrupt, the political system (first-past the post) is grossly unrepresentative, and that the vast majority of politicians are bigoted and are 'career politicians' (though I would expect little more). Yet it seems clear that I am not the only one who has this opinion.

I still don't understand the intricasies of the political system and though I am in Manchester at the moment I still don't know what my parents constituency is or who stands for what. The Island seem very unpolitical.

Do you think people need to be educated more to make people less apathetic. I think it wrong to simply force people to vote who really don't understand what their vote is about.