Renewing Democratic Engagement in Local Government Elections

Descriptions

The Welsh Government wishes to commission exploratory research with proposed newly enfranchised groups of voters and those who are already entitled to vote but are politically disengaged. Insights from the research will be used to inform strategies for engaging with these groups about their democratic rights and to promote voter participation and engagement.In July 2017, the Welsh Government published a White Paper consultation ‘Electoral Reform on Local Government in Wales’ . This included proposals to extend the voting franchise for local council elections in Wales to 16 and 17 year olds and citizens of all non-UK countries who are resident in Wales .In July 2018, the First Minister announced the Welsh Government’s legislative programme for the next 12 months which included provisions for extending the voting franchise for local government elections. This legislative proposal coincides with plans to extend the voting franchise to 16 and 17 year olds in elections for the National Assembly for Wales.The overall aim of this study is to understand how best to engage with (a) newly enfranchised groups of voters in devolved elections in Wales and (b) those who are already entitled to vote but are politically disengaged, in order to inform these groups of their rights and promote democratic participation and engagement.The specific objectives are to:(a)Elicit the views of these groups about the following issues:Voting in elections•being given the opportunity to vote in Welsh elections;•likelihood of participating in Welsh elections, and exploring motivations and barriers of doing so;•the influence of family and friends on participating in Welsh elections;•the process of registering as a voter and current methods of casting a vote (e.g. polling station / proxy vote / postal vote);Wider civic engagement•the degree to which participants feel they are able to engage in political debates affecting their local area and Wales more widely;•the importance of community engagement (e.g. volunteering) and other forms of political engagement (e.g. petitioning, marches, social media campaigns) and how this compares with voting in elections;Knowledge, understanding and representation•knowledge and understanding of local government , and how this compares with their understanding of decision making at Wales / UK levels of government;•the link between voting in local elections and decision making that affects local matters;•the degree to which they feel their views are represented by local government candidates ;•knowledge about what services councils are responsible for providing (for example, understanding that social care is provided by councils while health services are provided by Welsh Government);Engagement and communications•how would it be best to engage and communicate with younger voters who are in school and those who have left school about their right to vote, to encourage and enable them to vote and participate in democracy more widely, and to provide information on government and candidates; and•how would it be best to engage and communicate with citizens from other countries about their right to vote, to encourage and enable them to vote and participate in democracy more widely, and to provide information on government, and candidates.(b)Elicit the views of the stakeholder groups working with young people (for example, in schools, colleges and with youth workers and volunteers) to understand:•what work they already do to promote citizenship and civic engagement among young people; and•what methods, in their experience, are the most successful in engaging young people in the material.