An automatic voter registration system will be introduced in Jersey after a proposal to modernise democracy was overwhelmingly approved by the island’s politicians.

Whereas previously people in Jersey who were eligible to vote would have to opt in before an election, they will now all be registered automatically.

The idea is that it will make it easier for people to vote and will encourage more to do so.

42 of Jersey’s politicians backed the idea when it went before their States, no one voted against it and only one person abstained.

Pictured: Jersey’s States Chamber.

The matter came before the States after Jersey’s last election saw turnout drop to just 31%.

75% of those eligible to vote had registered to do so but then a majority didn’t bother.

This contrasts with Guernsey where the recent island wide election scored a 72% turnout at the ballot boxes.

It remains unclear exactly what percentage of the eligible residents had signed up to vote in the first place though.

Retiring Deputy Peter Roffey estimated that just over half of those who could have voted had registered to do so in advance. That means the 72% turnout could have been based on as little as 56% of those eligible to vote.

Pictured: Guernsey’s second fully island wide vote culminated in the election of 38 deputies last week.

Information on who should be included on Jersey’s automatic electoral register will come from the People Directory – a database which draws upon interactions with Revenue Jersey in relation to social security matters, the Register of Names and Addresses, and information held by the Children, Young People, Education and Skills department for those still in full-time education.

An accepted amendment to the draft legislation means there will be no public access to the register, but islanders will be able to opt-out of voting by contacting their Parish Electoral Administrator.

Committee chair Karen Stone said that although “there is an element of risk associated with the change, the Privileges and Procedures Committee considers the risk involved in bringing forward the Automatic Voting Registration is one that we can all mitigate”.

“Those people who didn’t put themselves on the register in the past for whatever reason can choose not to take part in the automatic electoral process,” she added.

Further amendments to the legislation, such as voting rights for prisoners and reducing residency eligibility are set for separate debate by politicians in Jersey.