5:00AM BST 09 Sep 2011
The council has made a strict interpretation of the law that means that no one will be able to enrol on their electoral register unless they can prove the county is their main home.
The controversial move could remove thousands of voters from the register and change the make-up of the local councils and constituencies forever.
But it has been met with dismay by second home owners who feel that they are being ostracised despite bringing wealth and tourists to the area.
There are more than 13,000 second homes in Cornwall making up one in 20 households.
It is thought many of them vote, even though technically by law they are only supposed to take part in elections at their main residence.
Now Cornwall Council has decided to crack down on the practice by cross checking the electoral register with anyone claiming second home council tax discount.
If they discover a match they now have powers to force the owner to prove that Cornwall is their main home.
If they cannot, they will not be allowed on the electoral roll effectively stopping them from voting for a local councillor or MP.
The second home-voting veto is a first in Britain but other counties such as Dorset are known to be keen to follow suit.
It was passed by Cornwall’s electoral review panel after years of political pressure from local MP Dan Rogerson and Lib Dem councillors.
Cornwall Council is currently led by a coalition of Conservatives and independents but many seats are marginal.
There is also evidence that holiday home owners may be deliberately exercising their vote in Cornwall because it would make little difference in their main home constituencies.
Mr Rogerson, the MP for North Cornwall, said holiday home owners had been swinging Cornish elections and he was "delighted" the electoral register would now be "clean".
“I’m delighted that Cornwall Council has agreed the new measures which I have been campaigning for a number of years.
“By making it harder for second home owners to register to vote, we will be upholding the law that limits voting rights to people who actually live in an area.”
“Around one in twenty households across Cornwall is a second home and owners receive a council tax discount.
“With that number of properties, the potential additional voters could have been enough to swing almost any election.
“We know that a large number of second home users did register to vote and so it is possible that they have already swung an election.”
The local Lib Dem deputy leader Alex Folkes said the ban was groundbreaking.
“It has been quite contentious and is very significant," he said.
“Cornwall is now leading the way on this and I know that other counties, for instance Dorset, are looking closely at what we’re doing.
"Elections in Cornwall should be decided by people who have a stake in our society – by people who live here and not people who visit for a few weeks."
Locals have long protested against second home owners who they claim price them out of the market and leave communities effectively ghost towns outside of the holiday season.
They hope their influence on local democracy will be removed by the next election.
A less draconian matching last year resulted in a purge of 947 potential voters.
But second home owners said that Cornwall was in danger of "shooting itself in the foot".
"It is quite frightening and risky for local people to ostracise second home owners," said Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies, of holidayletting.co.uk that handles 1,739 second homes in the county.
"After all the main industry in Cornwall is tourism."
A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said in principle people should only vote where they have their main residence but there were exceptions where people genuinely split their time between two homes such as MPs and students.
Friday, 9 September 2011
Second home owners banned from voting in Cornwall elections - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
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