Ground-breaking central voting hub piloted in Milton Keynes during local elections was ‘delivered successfully’ says Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission has evaluated the new central voting hubs that were piloted in Milton Keynes, and in three other cities during the May 7 elections.
Milton Keynes was the first city in the UK to launch an on-the-day central voting hub, which took place during the local elections on May 7.
The Electoral Commission has now published its evaluation of the pioneering hub, as well as three more pilots of early centralised voting hubs used in Cambridge, North Hertfordshire and Tunbridge Wells.
The evaluation found that the pilots were all delivered successfully, with few administrative issues reported by Returning Officers.
While the amount of voters using the centralised hubs was found to be low, voters who used them were positive about their experience and welcomed the flexibility, convenience and accessibility they offered.
The central voting hub in Milton Keynes was designed to make voting more convenient for people whose plans or routines caused them to be away from their local polling station on election day.
Similar approaches are already widely used in other countries particularly in the United States, where they are known as Super Precincts.
The Electoral Commission says there are more options to create even greater flexibility for voters, which were not tested in the May 7 elections.
It recommends that if the Government thinks further piloting is necessary, it should be designed to gather a complete collection of research, rather than extending the current evidence.
The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK.