Making Votes Count at Council Elections

That the Parliament notes the findings within the Report on the May 2022 Scottish council elections, which was published by the Electoral Commission in September 2022, that 95% of voters said that they found the ballot paper easy to fill in, although it highlights that people aged 25-34 were the most likely to say that they found the ballot paper difficult to fill, with 9% reporting difficulties; notes that the report draws attention to concerns which remain about levels of rejection in some council wards with the highest rejection level being within Canal Ward in Glasgow, which had a rejection rate of 5.64%, which, it understands, is over three times the average rejection rate across the country of 1.85%; further notes from the report that the most common reason for ballot papers being rejected across Scotland was expressing a first preference vote for more than one candidate, 64%; understands that the Electoral Commission intends to work with the Electoral Management Board for Scotland (EMB) and Returning Officers to improve voter communications in polling stations and postal ballot packs, to reinforce messaging about how to complete the ballot paper, as well as intending to carry out further work to identify the wards at risk of a higher rate of rejected ballots to support the targeting of election communication activity and to help minimise voter errors on the ballot paper; considers that, given that the Electoral Commission previously carried out research which, it understands, indicated that the wards with the highest levels of rejection were more likely to have higher levels of deprivation and unemployment, there should be a focus on targeted voter information initiatives in such areas, and believes that such initiatives would benefit from working with local partners, including local community organisations, to better support the electorate to ensure that when they vote, their vote counts.