Response to ‘ “10 Weeks to Save Democracy” before 2 Million People Are Wiped Off Electoral Register’ Article

Recently it has become evident to the public that alterations to the electoral registration process have been made by the government. Previously, the ‘head of household’ (or equivalent) would register all the applicable members of family onto the voting system. Now on the other hand, the system has been altered to fit in with the 21st century Britain and every person of age and wanting to vote must individually register themselves.
On one hand, this is a great idea. There are many flaws in the voting system and tightening up regulations to expel as many of these flaws as possible must be encouraged and embraced- to an extent. The new Individual Electoral Registration process will help ensure that people have more control over the process and also increase the accuracy and legitimacy of the system. Moreover, it creates a sense of trust- which is lacking- in the fairness of the elections.
However, the issue that the article is stressing is the fact that this new process is being hurried by the government and taking people by surprise. According to the article, “anyone who hasn’t re-registered or whose councils are unable to match with tax or benefit records will be wiped from the list in December” which, as the article outlines, will have incredible impacts on a large portion of our voting population.
Although the refined process states that its intentions are simply to give the electoral system more security and accuracy, its impacts are drastic and daunting. Why should people get their right to a voice torn from them simply because they were uninformed? It is one of our basic rights given to us as a democratic society that we have a vote and it is the primary method to how each individual can try to shape and control the society they live in. These