Dr. Theresa Reidy:

I agree with Dr. Marsh, especially with regard to conducting research on elections. In Canada and New Zealand, the electoral commissions regularly produce research on issues such as lowering the voting age. Some countries also do trial runs, which means they will temporarily reduce the voting age, for example. In certain regions in Germany, for example, the voting age was reduced to 16 years for some local elections. Following an evaluation, it was decided to stick with the lower voting age. These are precisely the types of things an electoral commission should do.

In terms of increasing participation, while the levels of trust and integrity in the electoral system are high, one of the problems we have is that the system of electoral administration is moribund and has not moved into the 21st century. Other countries have experimented with postal voting and Latvia has looked a great deal at online voting. In Ireland, we restrict access to postal voting when we should be examining how to provide greater access to the polls for citizens through, for example, early voting, more postal voting and alternative ways of casting ballots. If one had a structured framework such as an electoral commission with the capacity to do research and subsequently, with the agreement of parliament, as occurs in Canada, conduct trials about how this would operate, it would be possible to expand the electoral functions while maintaining trust in the system. Care is needed, however, and we should not adopt a system that randomly trials any form of innovation. This must be done in a structured fashion that is accountable to citizens and grounded in research.

There are many different options available in the area of voter registration. As Professor Farrell noted, the electoral commission should, in the first instance, initiate a consultation on this issue before proceeding as changing the electoral registration process is a big job. One of the reasons a commission should be established quickly is that one of the biggest jobs it will face is to decide how electoral registration should occur. It will then need a significant lead-in time to prepare for the next set of elections in order that a robust electoral register is in place beforehand and no glitches occur on election day.