ELECTRONIC VOTING FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOTS

Early day motion 1027, tabled 6 March 2018 by Ian Mearns (Labour). Signed by 32 members.

That this House notes that electronic voting is now commonplace for elections in a wide variety of elections in civil society bodies, including the internal elections for the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London and in shareholder ballots of multinational companies; rejects the argument that additional trials are necessary in non-statutory contexts before such widely adopted measures might be employed for industrial action balloting; regrets the Government's unwarranted delay in approving the use of new technologies; fears this is politically motivated and aimed at keeping turnout figures below the arbitrary thresholds imposed in the Trade Union Act 2016; and calls on the Government to expedite the introduction of the latest technology for fair and secure electoral participation as a matter of urgency.

Signatures by party: Labour 20, Scottish National Party 6, Labour/Co-operative 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Green 1, Independent 1.