Wales to consider voting in supermarkets and colleges

The Welsh Government is exploring with local authorities whether flexible voting pilots can take place in next year’s local government elections.

Voting in different spaces is being considered to provide voters with easier access in familiar environments. Polling stations in secondary schools and colleges would allow young people easy access to democracy, following legislation giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote in Wales. Consideration is also being given to sites such as leisure centres or supermarkets.

More flexible voting could also be achieved through early voting. This could see polling stations open the day before or the weekend before an election, or across multiple days. It would supplement postal voting as a way to give people more options to vote in advance.

The Welsh Government has also said it will explore the possibility of people also being able to vote at any polling station in a local authority area, instead of having to vote at an appointed polling station.

Local authorities are now considering whether they would like to progress any of these ideas for the 2022 local elections. If pursued, lessons learned would then inform arrangements for future elections, including the Senedd election in 2026 and the local government elections in 2027.

Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, said: “We have had constructive discussions with the Welsh Local Government Association about the need to modernise the way elections work. We’re now encouraging local authorities to step forward and play a part in shaping the future of elections in Wales. Piloting new approaches at the elections in May 2022 would be the first step in a longer term process that could see radical changes to how people exercise their democratic right to vote across the whole of Wales in future.”