National Voter Registration Day 2015

EDM number 678 in 2014-15, proposed by David Ward on 12/01/2015.
Categorised under the topic of Electoral register.

That this House welcomes Bite The Ballot's second annual National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) on 5 February 2015, supported by Open Society Foundations, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, Hogan Lovells LLP and others, which aim to encourage 250,000 new electors to join the electoral register; praises the NVRD 2014 campaign which encouraged over 50,000 people to register to vote at a cost per registration of £0.25; acknowledges the Government's commitment to get more young people and other under-represented groups to register during the transition to Individual Electoral Registration; further welcomes the move to online registration and that over 36 million people have been successfully matched and automatically added to the new register; believes that with millions of voters still missing from the register, in order to deliver its commitment to maximising registration, the Government must now do more to encourage, support and promote the NVRD annual day of action that involves youth clubs, community groups, educational establishments and businesses across the UK registering people to vote; recognises that this initiative is supported by the APPG on Voter Registration and the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, with unanimous all-party support from members of both Houses and the devolved legislatures; and strongly urges the Government, the Cabinet Office, the Electoral Commission, local authorities, valuation joint boards and local electoral registration officers to fully recognise the importance of NVRD in creating an engaged and inspired young electorate.

This motion has been signed by a total of 55 MPs.