ff1d1l
pfm Member
Got that the wrong way round, didn't you?
People denied right to vote in UK for first time ever due to lack of ID
- Thread starter notaclue
- Start date
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
Postal voting gives the franchise back to people who will be absent on polling day. It should, however, be carefully checked, just as voting on the day should.
hifinutt
hifinutt
it is a pain but election fraud is a real issue and i guess they are trying to reduce it
https://www.electoralcommission.org...64609/Electoral-fraud-review-final-report.pdf
and this was one news item
Ten years on from the postal vote fraud scandal which saw Birmingham’s political system likened to a ‘banana republic’ an MP says he is sure there is still election fraud today.
The city council election on June 10, 2004 was perhaps the darkest day in Birmingham’s political history as it marred by vote rigging on an industrial scale which left trust in the electoral system shattered.
Yardley Lib Dem MP John Hemming, together with his colleague barrister Ayoub Khan, brought the resulting postal vote fraud court cases which a year later lead to six inner-city Labour councillors being sacked and elections in Aston and Bordesley Green re-run.
High Court Judge Richard Mawrey QC, presiding over the election court, famously declared the fraud “would disgrace a banana republic,” after his election court found there was a campaign by Labour Party activists to forge, steal, and alter thousands of postal votes.
The extent of fraud was uncovered when police found candidates and supporters handling unsealed postal ballots in a deserted warehouse in Birch Road East, Aston during a late-night raid two days before the election.
Problems also became apparent when the number of postal votes rocketed from 28,000 in 2003 to 70,000 in 2004 – and witnesses saw people delivering bags full of ballot papers to polling stations and counts.
Looking back, Mr Hemming said that while it is unlikely that fraud on that industrial scale is taking place, it does still happen in Birmingham.
He said: “There was a small amount of progress after the Election Court. But there is still vote fraud going on in this city. There are signs of it.”
He is convinced there is a problem with personation, where somebody goes to a polling station and gives the name of someone else, usually a known non-voter, and takes their ballot.
“You can go from polling station to polling station, an individual could vote 20 times like this. I am checking details of ten people we know who never vote but who are down as having voted.”
He argues that only by demanding a photo identification, as is required in Northern Ireland, that this problem could be eliminated.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/birmingham-vote-fraud-still-happening-7229359
https://www.electoralcommission.org...64609/Electoral-fraud-review-final-report.pdf
and this was one news item
Ten years on from the postal vote fraud scandal which saw Birmingham’s political system likened to a ‘banana republic’ an MP says he is sure there is still election fraud today.
The city council election on June 10, 2004 was perhaps the darkest day in Birmingham’s political history as it marred by vote rigging on an industrial scale which left trust in the electoral system shattered.
Yardley Lib Dem MP John Hemming, together with his colleague barrister Ayoub Khan, brought the resulting postal vote fraud court cases which a year later lead to six inner-city Labour councillors being sacked and elections in Aston and Bordesley Green re-run.
High Court Judge Richard Mawrey QC, presiding over the election court, famously declared the fraud “would disgrace a banana republic,” after his election court found there was a campaign by Labour Party activists to forge, steal, and alter thousands of postal votes.
The extent of fraud was uncovered when police found candidates and supporters handling unsealed postal ballots in a deserted warehouse in Birch Road East, Aston during a late-night raid two days before the election.
Problems also became apparent when the number of postal votes rocketed from 28,000 in 2003 to 70,000 in 2004 – and witnesses saw people delivering bags full of ballot papers to polling stations and counts.
Looking back, Mr Hemming said that while it is unlikely that fraud on that industrial scale is taking place, it does still happen in Birmingham.
He said: “There was a small amount of progress after the Election Court. But there is still vote fraud going on in this city. There are signs of it.”
He is convinced there is a problem with personation, where somebody goes to a polling station and gives the name of someone else, usually a known non-voter, and takes their ballot.
“You can go from polling station to polling station, an individual could vote 20 times like this. I am checking details of ten people we know who never vote but who are down as having voted.”
He argues that only by demanding a photo identification, as is required in Northern Ireland, that this problem could be eliminated.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/birmingham-vote-fraud-still-happening-7229359
droodzilla
pfm Member
Postal votes may need looking at but fraudulent voting at a polling station is a vanishingly small problem according to this article from Hope Not Hate:
https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2018/05/04/voter-id-fiasco-happened/
It uses statistics from the Electoral Commission.
On the other hand a few thousand people were turned away in the five pilot boroughs for voter ID.
It's a totally disproportionate response to a tiny problem and, frankly, the last thing we need right now are further barriers to participation in the democratic process.
I might conceivably support the move if it were done properly - masses of publicity + free ID cards for all. But I have zero faith the Tories will do this. It's a nakedly partisan manoeuvre on their part.
https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2018/05/04/voter-id-fiasco-happened/
It uses statistics from the Electoral Commission.
On the other hand a few thousand people were turned away in the five pilot boroughs for voter ID.
It's a totally disproportionate response to a tiny problem and, frankly, the last thing we need right now are further barriers to participation in the democratic process.
I might conceivably support the move if it were done properly - masses of publicity + free ID cards for all. But I have zero faith the Tories will do this. It's a nakedly partisan manoeuvre on their part.