Peter Hain has called for changes in the way elections are carried out

In the Welsh assembly election earlier this year, only 38% of people bothered to vote, down from 46% in 1999.

Neath Port Talbot MP Mr Hain addressed the Welsh Local Government Association annual conference on Thursday and urged a shake-up to voting procedures.

The next round of local government elections are to take place in May 2004.

Mr Hain, who is also leader of the Commons, also called for changes to the way AMs are elected to the Welsh assembly, saying that voters are confused by the way it works.

"I think it is absolutely crucial that we ensure that everybody has the ability to vote easily," he said.

The people who say 'don't bother to vote' are not bothered about getting a job or their children's education Peter Hain

"If we could do that by universal postal voting, then I think the quality of democracy would improve."

He said it was "a painful admission" for many that a postal vote had become necessary.

"My parents, for example, made sacrifices in the struggle against apartheid to win the right to vote for people of all colours in South Africa," he said.

But Mr Hain said that a wider use of postal votes, which were encouraged in the Welsh assembly elections, could have a dramatic impact.

"In postal votes on the whole, you get around a 60% turnout of those who have applied for them.

"In the Welsh assembly elections, the turnout of those physically walking to the polling station was around 30%.

Low voter turnout blighted the Welsh assembly election

"We would have got an even lower one than the miserable 38% that we did, if we hadn't had these examples of postal voting taking place."

In his speech, he will call for councils to devote staff resources to actively canvassing for postal votes on the doorstep, in shopping centres and wherever people congregate.

It was the responsibility of both politicians and the media, he added, to engage people with politics.

"We must find a way of communicating what is happening in this country in a way that people relate to and understand," he said.

But on the issue of those who steadfastly refuse to vote, the minister become a little more frustrated.

"The people who say 'don't bother to vote' are not bothered about getting a job because the economy depends on what government policies are being pursued, or about their children's education because the quality of local schools depends on investment."