Chiefs say election officers should stay local
Author: Mark Smulian, LGC |
Election officers should remain local employees in a decentralised system, council chief executives have said.
The Law Commission has launched a review of the workings of election administration since a multiplicity of local and national referendums had been introduced, together with and different voting systems, for example in mayoral elections and local polls in Scotland.
The commission, which makes recommendations on changes to areas of law, said the current system was “not designed to deal with a range of elections to disparate elected bodies using different voting systems” and that election administration was “fragmented and unlikely to be considered a serious option if designing a new set of structures from scratch”.
But the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers told the commission: “We do not believe that there should be a move away from the current decentralised returning officer model towards some form of centralised oversight responsible for conducting elections and referendums.
“Returning officers and electoral registration officers should continue to be senior officers in local government who understand the nuances and circumstances of their communities and are therefore best placed to run elections.”
The commission’s consultation ‘Electoral Law in the United Kingdom’ runs until 17 September.