THE right to vote is something that, throughout history, people have given their lives for.
Yet, for years, Jersey has consistently ranked among the worst places in the world for voter turnout.
Plenty of reasons have been proffered as to why: political fatigue, a perception that voting changes very little, a lack of quality candidates. All have been suggested as possible reasons for a engagement rate which of just 41.6% at the 2022 election. Across OECD jurisdictions, average voter turnout rate is around 70%.
The low voter turnout at Island elections have been a source of concern and, at least in part, some embarrassment.
In a bid to start reversing the trend, a Digital and Public Engagement Team was attached to the States Greffe with the aim of making politics more accessible, providing Islanders with a clearer understanding of the issues and finding new ways to connect with a disengaged electorate.
Jenny O’Brien, who heads up the team has been in post since 2020, and has helped drive new initiatives such as the recent Candidate’s Fayre – where the majority of those standing each had stalls and voting-age students were invited to speak to their prospective representatives.
Adorning Miss O’Brien’s office wall are plenty of posters encouraging people to get involved in politics, while the opposite wall is reserved for her eight-year-old daughter Jessica’s artwork and motivational notes.
While Misss O’Brien’s personal approach to engaging Islanders in politics is one of understanding – one of her daughter’s notes takes a much more no-nonsense approach: There are “no excuses” to not vote.
Despite her role today, there was a time when Miss O’Brien was not interested in politics.
“I think it was a symptom of history,” she said. “I went to school in the late 80s and 90s, when we didn’t have any political education, so I wasn’t knowledgeable about the Assembly.
“I then went to university and probably picked up a lot more about UK politics than I probably had done in Jersey, because those around me were more engaged and so it was more normal.”
However, it was not until a friend tried to convince her to vote locally that she became interested in the States Assembly and its workings.
“I used to be a triathlete, a friend trying to convince me to vote said to me ‘what about if there was a 50-metre pool on the cards?’, and I said ‘oh, I’d vote for anybody who put a 50 metre pool in Jersey’,” she said.
This interaction made her realise the best way to increase engagement is to find examples of how political decision-making affects the individual and their interests.
“There’s a disconnect in Jersey between having a view on local issues and understanding that you have an influence through the States Assembly – and what we’re trying to do is bridge that gap and help people make those connections,” she said.
“That’s been my journey both through my work, but also through issues that matter to me, which have changed throughout my life. I’m now a mum, so education really matters to me, healthcare matters to me. It’s the things that affect my life that really got me.”
Why is voter turnout so low in Jersey?
At the 2022 elections, just 31% of those eligible to cast their ballot papers did so.
In comparison, neighbours Guernsey boasted a 72% figure.
However, Misss O’Brien insisted the the picture is not quite as dire as the raw figures may suggest.
She said: “The important thing to look at is how many people were eligible in the Island, and how many people registered. There were about 70% of eligible Islanders registered to vote in Jersey in 2022, in Guernsey it was much lower.”
This difference, she said, is because Jersey adopts a UK system of rolling registration whereby once people are on it, they stay on it unless, for example, they do not reply to annual register checks for three years in a row.
Therefore, people can be on the register who are unable to vote because they may have died and this can skew the turnout figure, making it seem lower than it is in reality.
Meanwhile, in Guernsey a new register is compiled after each election, which means it has fewer people unable or unwilling to vote from it, so their turnout rate figure doesn’t face the same issue.
A recent paper published by think tank Policy Centre Jersey illustrated how the gap between the two islands’ turnout rates is considerably less wide, when this is taken into account.
It read: “In Jersey, the number of registered voters was equal to 70% of the total population over 16; in Guernsey, the figure was 58% in 2020 and 50% in 2025. If Jersey adopted the Guernsey system, its turnout would have been 50.1% not 41.7%.”
Voter demographics and reasons for not voting
Plenty of analysis and review have been carried out since the election four years ago, including breakdowns of voter turnout patterns, offering some interesting insight into what different demographics did and did not vote.
Miss O’Brien said: “You’re more likely to vote if you live in a rural parish than in an urban parish, you’re more likely to vote if you’re a homeowner than a renter and you’re more likely to vote if you’re older than younger.”
She added that turnout was particularly low in central St Helier, where only 57% of those entitled to vote registered, with a turnout of 29%. This meant that just 17% of those entitled to vote did so.
“You’ll find there’s more rental properties in St Helier and those two things align,” she said. “We also know there’s a lot people [who live in the district] whose first language isn’t English.”
The most recent Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey also revealed the top reasons people gave for not voting in 2022: wouldn’t make a difference (30%), don’t trust the political system (28%), not interested in the election (24%) and didn’t know enough about candidates (22%) were the top reasons given.
What is being done to boost voter turnout?
AS part of driving political engagement, Miss O’Brien and her team have embarked on a number of new initiatives ahead of polling day on Sunday 7 June.
This has included filming two minute clips of candidates and a course for would-be candidates to help them prepare for standing – something which was also done in Guernsey.
There are also 38 hustings taking place across the Island, arranged by the Jersey Electoral authority.
Miss O’Brien added: “Outreach has far expanded on what it’s ever been before. We have an outreach manager now, which we didn’t have in 2022 and two education outreach officers.”
The team has also organised an additional Senatorial hustings with the Jersey Youth Service specifically targeted at young people.
And special Jersey Election Explained sessions have also formed part of their outreach programme, including tours of the States Chamber.
“How can you vote if you don’t understand how it all works,” Miss O’Brien said. “Our philosophy is, there are no stupid questions, please ask us anything at all, this is an open forum to help everybody to get to grips with it.”
What does the future hold?
The upcoming election may be the key focus, but Miss O’Brien is already looking ahead towards four years time.
She said she would “love to see voting in any polling station”, while bolder suggestions from further afield have also been discussed.
“There is a polling station at Bondi beach, because they take the polling stations to where people are, and obviously Bondi is packed, people come off and it takes five minutes to come in, do your votes and back to the beach,” she said.
“It would be lovely to have a polling station at a school or college, say at Oakfield, where we had the Candidates Fayre, so people can go up there during a free period from a lesson.”
She added: “We’d also like to make postal voting opt in much simpler, and make it available online. The Judicial Greffe is really keen to do that as well. It’s something we’ve committed to doing in 2030.”
