Backing for remote voting in Mid Devon

Councillors have been working on a response

Calls have been made for councillors in Mid Devon to be allowed to vote when attending meetings online.

Local authorities have been asked to respond to a government consultation about how councillors can attend meetings and the ways in which they can vote.

At present, while councillors can attend online, they can’t vote if they are not in the meeting room in person.

Some authorities have policies that allow a substitute member to attend and vote in a councillor’s place.

Council leader Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat, Bradninch) said.“I don’t want to get rid of people sitting round a table, but if someone can’t attend in person but has the ability to be online and be able to vote, then they are still part of the democratic process.”

Other members wanted meetings to be held in-person wherever possible, and were generally against meetings that were held entirely remotely.

“I think we do need a physical presence, as the public are entitled to attend and not everyone is able to attend online,” Cllr Nikki Woollatt (Independent, Cullompton St Andrews) said.

“We wouldn’t want it to be just members of the public and officers, and no councillors.”

Councillors were broadly against proxy voting, in which councillors can ask another committee member to vote on their behalf.

“I don’t support proxy voting as there is a risk of pre-determination,” said Cllr James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton St Andrews).

“If [the absent] member hasn’t indicted to the member casting the vote on their behalf what their vote is, then the attending member gets two votes, which breaks the principle of one member one vote and equal representation.

“I can’t see how it would work without breaching our code of conduct.”

The consultation has now closed, and the government will publish the results in due course.