By Vivienne Russell | 20 December 2012
Last year’s referendum on changing the voting system for the UK cost £75m, the Electoral Commission revealed today.
In the first report on the costs of running a national poll, the commission found that counting officers claimed around £58m in fees and charges for the Alternative Vote referendum. The costs included operating the polling stations, printing and posting polling cards and counting votes. The government had originally expected the officers, who conduct the polls and count the results, to claim £80m.The remaining £17m was spent by the commission itself on public awareness campaigns and administering grants to campaign groups.
Following the report, the commission called on the government to release details of the costs of other recent polls, including the 2010 general election and November’s police and crime commissioner elections.
Commission chair Jenny Watson said: ‘The public have a right to know how their money is spent at major polls, and we’ve been able to set this out for the first time today.
‘These figures show the government’s original estimate of the cost of the 2011 referendum were too high – by more than £20m – so it’s important that lessons are learnt.’
Watson also said the government should accept and implement the principle of agreeing funding legislation for polls six months before the vote, rather than the current four and a half weeks. This would allow for proper planning, she said.
The commission said it would undertake further analysis of the figures in today’s report to help returning/counting officers achieve best value when running future elections.
