1. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to encourage the use of technology in Welsh elections? OQ56891

Thank you for the question. We are actively looking at how we can use technology to improve voters' experiences at all stages of Welsh elections, from how they register, how they vote and how we count those votes. We are working with local authorities to identify whether these innovations could be tested in next May's elections.

Diolch. During the recent Senedd elections, there was some innovative use of technology in one constituency around the way in which the voting was marked on the register. Traditionally, the record of who has voted has been done by pen and paper, but this was carried out on tablets by polling station staff in Blaenau Gwent. For the avoidance of any doubt, I'm referring to the record of who has voted, rather than electronic voting, which is another matter altogether. I can only see positives from the use of technology in this facet of the voting process, as it cuts down on human error and results in more accurate data when it comes to producing the marked register. Is the Welsh Government, therefore, going to promote the use of good practice with technology during elections along the lines that I've outlined?

Thank you very much for that supplementary question. You are absolutely right, there are very exciting opportunities for innovation within our electoral system, with many examples of new systems not just being employed in Blaenau Gwent, but other parts of Wales as well. There were examples of that, but also around the world, from systems that allow voters to track their postal ballots to electronic registers at polling stations. So, we are developing an ambitious programme for improvement with a number of electoral pilots that will likely require the use of new technologies next year. They will enable local authorities to consider flexible voting options such as early voting or voting hubs in central locations. We have invited all the local authorities in Wales to bring forward their ideas for electoral pilots, including those in your own region. We will be working closely with them and supporting them in testing these innovations at next May's local government elections.

So, I will be working closely with all local authorities and the electoral community to ensure that these innovations are taken forward collaboratively and with the integrity of Welsh elections as the highest priority, as always. I look forward to working with colleagues here in taking this forward, and I'd add one further comment—that, very interestingly, the Welsh Centre for Public Policy is currently undertaking research on electoral innovations around the world, which I hope will further inform our thinking and introduce new ideas.

Firstly, unfortunately, we have to accept that a large number of people do not want to vote for any of us. [Laughter.] For a generation brought up on using their phones for everything, asking them to queue and put a cross on a piece of paper appears very old fashioned. Has the Government considered trialling online voting to engage younger people? If online banking can be made safe, I'm sure that online voting can.

Well, I think that the Member is absolutely right. One of the objectives of the pilots that I referred to earlier is, for example—. Where we have introduced voting for 16-year-olds in our election system, when people come on to the register, why should we not be able to use technology that, for example, would allow them to vote in their schools? What about voting in workplaces? What about voting in supermarkets—voting where it is convenient for people to vote, with the objective of maximising the accessibility of the voting system? The voting system is the core of our democracy, and the number of people who participate in that, and the quality of that system, is really a true test, I think, of the strength of our democracy.