VOTING

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Conservative candidate Randeep Kaur Samra, 20, who is standing in the local elections against Labour councillor Robin Turner and Lib Dem candidate Leigh Alcock, is not old enough to be a councillor. The Local Government Act states that candidates in local elections need to be at least 21. Miss Samra can still be elected to Derby City Council and could attend meetings and carry out duties, because she has already been mistakenly accepted as a candidate, but she could be forced to resign if her victory was challenged by a petition being registered through the courts using the Representation of the People Act.

Labour and Lib Dem leaders Chris Williamson and Hilary Jones said they would mount a challenge if Miss Samra was elected although the council said it would not suspend Miss Samra if this was to happen. A hearing would have to take place before a specially assembled election court, which could take six months and a further three months before a verdict. If the court found in her favour, she could continue despite being underage. If it found against her, she would be forced to stand down and a by-election would be held.

Miss Samra, daughter of Allestree councillor Balbir Singh Samra, said, "As far as I knew you had to be at least 20 to stand." Her father was also unaware of the rules it would seem. The Tories said they have no intention of withdrawing Miss Samra as a candidate, as the rules do not oblige them to. The group's deputy leader, Richard Smalley, said, "It does appear there's been an administrative error and we'll investigate to find out what's happened."

Tory group leader Philip Hickson was later reported to the police over the blunder by the Lib Dems who sent a letter of complaint to Chief Superintendent Tony Hurrell of Derbyshire police. They claim Mr Hickson broke the law by allowing Miss Samra to make a false declaration stating she was over 21, when the nomination form was submitted. Mr Hickson said, "It's overkill." But can Mr Hickson honestly say he wouldn't have responded in exactly the same way had this happened to a Lib Dem candidate? After all, the councils automatic reaction in most cases is to threaten prosecution. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/06)

Local elections in England could be abandoned under plans being considered by the government. Whitehall officials have told council chiefs they are considering cancelling the May 2007 polls because of possible plans for a local government shake-up. The move would avoid electing councils which would sit for just one year. Minister David Miliband says there has been no decision on council reform and he intends for the polls to go ahead. The government intends to publish a White Paper on reforming local councils this summer, with the hope they would become law in spring 2007. There would then be "shadow" votes for the newly reformed councils in 2008, with them taking power in 2009. (Source: BBC News, Feb/06)

Lining up at polling stations to place votes in a ballot box at elections may soon become a thing of the past in Derby. Instead, residents in the city could be asked to elect councillors by putting their vote in the post at their own convenience - but only if the voters say that is what they want to do. Recent figures show that fewer people are making the effort to vote at local elections. The turnout for 2003's local elections was 30.6%, which was 2.7% lower than 2002.

Now, in a bid to encourage more people to vote, Derby City Council's scrutiny management commission is considering carrying out a survey to see what people in Derby think about all-postal voting. The commission is expected to give the go-ahead to proposals to pay an independent consultant £4,000 to conduct 500 telephone interviews to establish the public's views. The move comes as part of a drive by the Electoral Commission, which local promotes democracy, to encourage all local authority elections to be carried out this way.

A number of people in Derby have already tried voting by post. In 2002, 6,000 people applied for a postal vote and in May this year that figure rose to more than 12,000 out of a total of 166,000 people eligible to vote. Councillor Richard Smalley, chairman of the scrutiny management commission, said, "Research has shown that there's an increase when postal voting is used. However, the research that's been done so far shows that it wouldn't really encourage people who are already disaffected by the democratic process. We need to find a way to re-engage the population and get them involved."

In 2001, the council tested opinion on different ways of voting through the Derby Pointer Panel, which is used as a sounding board on policy issues and is designed to accurately reflect how people in the city feel about a range of topics. The survey showed the public thought more people would vote if they could do so on the internet, vote on more than one day and if there were polling stations in supermarkets. MORI recently carried out a survey of the local authorities which carried out pilot schemes of all-postal votes in May, which included East Staffordshire and Chesterfield.

Nothing frightens councillors as much as a low turnout. However badly they behave, they need to feel that the public supports the system. None of the main parties really deserves our votes.

* Labour despises the voters and parliament. They market themselves ruthlessly, irrespective of the truth.

* The Conservatives are quite prepared to run down our public services still further in pursuit of electoral advantage.

* The Liberal Democrats are the cuddly party, who think that being nice to everyone will bring about a happier world.

All the parties wimp out of realistic discussion of serious issues likes drugs, or euthanasia. So do we vote for the least bad party, or do we show our contempt for them all by staying away? Councillors claim to deplore apathy. This is not because of some high minded dedication to the democratic process (our democracy is feeble anyway). Like most things councillors say, it is a selfish means to their end, which is a good election result. Abstention tells them they just have not been doing well enough for any of them to deserve your vote. If you vote, you buy into their system. More importantly, it shows you accept their standards. Abstention may show antipathy to the lot of them.

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