TY - UNPB

T1 - Participation of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in the UK 2015 General Election

AU - James, Elaine

PY - 2016/12/1

Y1 - 2016/12/1

N2 - The right ofall United Kingdom citizens to participate in the renewal every fiveyears of the UK Parliament is enshrined within the Representation of the People Acts (1983, 2000), the Human Rights Act (1989) and the Disability Discrimination Act (2005). The 56thParliament of the UK was elected on7 May 2015. The entitlement to register to participate in the 2015 General Election in the UK was determined by the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 2000 (RPA 83/00),which established who can and cannot register to vote. Section 4 of RPA 83 and Section 1 of RPA 00 states that:A person is entitled to be registered in the register of parliamentary electors for any constituency or part of a constituency if on the relevant date he –-is resident in the constituency or that part of it; -is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote (age apart); -is either a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland; and -is of voting age. Whilst in UK law there is no mental capacity test in relation to the right to vote, adults with intellectual disabilities continue to experience discrimination, which results indisenfranchisement. Some research has been undertaken into democratic participation, however the body of literature is limited. A scoping review of the literature (Arksey & O'Malley 2005) was undertaken to answer the question, “What is known from this existing literature about the barriers and motivating factors which result in an observable effect on participation rates?” The scoping review identified 11 papers that considered the issues, only threeof which were empirical studies. This indicates that there is potential to gain

AB - The right ofall United Kingdom citizens to participate in the renewal every fiveyears of the UK Parliament is enshrined within the Representation of the People Acts (1983, 2000), the Human Rights Act (1989) and the Disability Discrimination Act (2005). The 56thParliament of the UK was elected on7 May 2015. The entitlement to register to participate in the 2015 General Election in the UK was determined by the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 2000 (RPA 83/00),which established who can and cannot register to vote. Section 4 of RPA 83 and Section 1 of RPA 00 states that:A person is entitled to be registered in the register of parliamentary electors for any constituency or part of a constituency if on the relevant date he –-is resident in the constituency or that part of it; -is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote (age apart); -is either a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland; and -is of voting age. Whilst in UK law there is no mental capacity test in relation to the right to vote, adults with intellectual disabilities continue to experience discrimination, which results indisenfranchisement. Some research has been undertaken into democratic participation, however the body of literature is limited. A scoping review of the literature (Arksey & O'Malley 2005) was undertaken to answer the question, “What is known from this existing literature about the barriers and motivating factors which result in an observable effect on participation rates?” The scoping review identified 11 papers that considered the issues, only threeof which were empirical studies. This indicates that there is potential to gain

M3 - Working paper

VL - 3

BT - Participation of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in the UK 2015 General Election

PB - University of York

ER -