Postal voting ‘hopelessly insecure’
An election court judge has described the current postal voting system as “hopelessly insecure” as he ruled there had been widespread fraud in some of Birmingham’s local elections.
Richard Mawrey QC, sitting as an election commissioner, ordered fresh elections in the Aston and Bordesley Green wards after concluding there was evidence of “massive, systematic and organised fraud”.
He found six Labour councillors guilty of vote rigging in the June 10 poll. All have been suspended from the Labour Party.
The court case began after the Liberal Democrats and the People’s Justice Party (PJP) brought two petitions alleging that the men had abused the postal voting system.
Mr Mawrey’s description of the postal voting system as “hopelessly insecure” is a massive blow to the system likely to be used by a record number of voters in the forthcoming general election.
The judge also expressed regret that ministers had dismissed warnings about the risks of the system as “scaremongering”.
“This system is wide open to fraud and any would-be political fraudster knows that it’s wide open to fraud,” Mr Mawrey said in his statement.
The six councillors were accused of using forgery and deception to collect and amend thousands of votes. They all strenuously denied the allegations.
Liberal Democrat president Simon Hughes said that changes in the electoral law are needed and that the Electoral Commission should act to ensure the public are clear on how to protect their votes from theft.
Mr Hughes added: “The Police must recognise the seriousness of offences that threaten the democratic process and be prepared to investigate rigorously.
“Any member of the public who suspects illegal vote rigging is happening should immediately go to the police.”
Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox said that the Conservatives would introduce an action plan to restore voting confidence. This would include a switch to individual, as opposed to householder registration with date of birth and national insurance numbers needed to both register for a postal vote and then vote by post.
There would be no all-postal ballots and plans for e-voting would be cancelled.
Mr Fox, said: “We all want to see improved turnout at elections but this must not come at the price of electoral fraud. The way in which postal voting has been rolled out has raised too many questions and caused widespread public concern about the integrity of Britain’s electoral system. The country that exported democracy to so much of the world must not become victim to the practices of developing countries.
“The Judge identified complacency among Government Ministers as a problem. With an election due to be called tomorrow, it is crucial that such complacency ends and that the Government acts to ensure that this sort of problem is not repeated in the forthcoming election.”
