Political

Your polling station may be moving this autumn

Starting in October, local councils in Great Britain will be carrying out their statutory obligation to review polling district boundaries and locations of polling stations.

The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 requires each council to carry out a review within 16 months of 1 October 2013, and subsequently at five-yearly intervals.

The decision over how many polling stations to have is often considered from the perspective of administrative convenience. That certainly matters, but it is also the case that more polling stations mean higher turnout in local and European elections.

The case for increasing the number of polling stations in order to increase turnout is rarely made. With this new timetable for reviews, perhaps one of the democratic reform lobbying organisations such as Unlock Democracy will start making it?

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