160,000 voters set to boycott next poll

Published on Saturday 23 February 2008 18:48

SCOTTISH democracy has been plunged into crisis as a result of last year's Holyrood election fiasco, with 160,000 voters – one in 12 of the total – saying they are now less likely to go to the ballot box.

The first detailed investigation into the impact of the scandal, in which 140,000 ballot papers were spoiled, also found almost half of Scots do not believe the outcome of the poll was fair.

Of those who voted in 2007, 5% said they were slightly less likely to turn out and 3% – 60,000 voters – "much less likely" to go to the ballot box. If all of them decided not to vote in the next poll in 2011, turnout would slump from 52% to just to 44%, an all-time low.

The 2007 poll was marred by unprecedented scenes of chaos when the public was asked to mark three votes in two separate elections, carried out under entirely different electoral systems.

A damning inquiry concluded that "almost without exception", voters were treated as an "afterthought" by the politicians who organised the elections.

The detailed survey of 1,000 voters, undertaken by Strathclyde University, revealed that:

&149 43% of Scots do not believe that last year's election result was fair;

&149 62% believe the errors affected the outcome;

&#149 43% of those who didn't vote are now even less likely to bother in future.

Among non-voters, the debacle seems to have hardened attitudes against taking part in elections at all: 30% of those who didn't vote said they were slightly less likely to do so in the future and 13% said they were much less likely.

The survey also showed that many people believe the election to be unfair: 24% were "not very confident" or "not at all confident" their vote had been counted in the ballot – even though the total number of rejected ballots was less than 5% of the total.

The survey, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), also asked who or what was most to blame. A total of 23% said voters and 20% singled out "the people who designed the electronic counting machines".

The London-based Scotland Office and the Edinburgh-based Scottish Government shared blame, with 17% and 18% respectively blaming them the most.

One of the authors of the study, Dr Christopher Carman, said:

"We're not saying that voters would stay away from the polls in droves, but it is significant."

He said the results placed a shadow over the 2011 poll.

"If they make changes here and there but don't get the message across, I don't think they will convince these voters who are right now being turned off the political process."

The then Scottish Executive decided to hold the Holyrood elections on the same day as council elections. The Scotland Office decided to put both Holyrood votes on the same piece of paper. Combined with a new electronic counting system, it led to unprecedented numbers of ballots being rejected.

The SNP and Labour exchanged blows last night over the scandal. An SNP spokesman said:

"The election confusion was the responsibility of the Scotland Office, which is why the first recommendation of the Gould Report – to transfer the running of future Scottish elections from Westminster to Holyrood – needs to be implemented."

But a senior source at the Labour-run Scotland Office said: "It is an overwhelming rejection of the SNP's big plan to blame Westminster for everything that went wrong and to take control of the running of the elections, which is supported by a mere 8% of Scots."