The-Agenda.co.uk

Vote early, vote often - by post

Bogus postal votes could create havoc in the upcoming general election, especially with the polls predicting a close race. Reforms must be speeded up in the next Parliament.

Britain takes pride in being the oldest democracy with the mother of all parliaments. So it’s all the more surprising that its elections are wide open to abuse.

Postal voting in Britain, according to a Council of Europe report, is “very vulnerable to electoral fraud”. A grave concern given postal voting soared in the last election. Since 2000 anyone can vote by post. Previously voters had to show they could not go to the polling station.

In fact, electoral fraud is alarmingly simple. Here's how you could have arranged to cast a vote, in addition to your own, by a bogus Mr Smith for the May 6 general election. The first step would have been to get Mr Smith on the electoral register. The easiest way would have been last autumn when the annual form came through your letter box to be filled in with details of who is eligible to vote in your household. You would have simply filled in the names of yourself and the made-up Mr Smith. Incredibly, next to no checks would have been made to verify Mr Smith lives with you. Unless a ludicrous name like Daffy Duck is used or it’s claimed 12 voters live in a studio flat all names are accepted at face value and put on the electoral register.

As the election nears you would have applied before April 20 for a postal ballot in the name of Mr Smith. The electoral authorities check Mr Smith’s name and address matches the electoral register. Of course, they match the false information you previously provided. The application form for Mr Smith’s postal ballot will require a date of birth and signature – incredibly, the authorities have no way of verifying these so put whatever you like.

A little later Mr Smith's postal ballot paper pops through your letter box. You cast his vote and post it back to arrive on or before May 6. Laughably, the only security measure is to randomly check the date of birth and signature in 20% of postal votes against those provided a little earlier in the application for the postal ballots. So even if Mr Smith’s vote is one of the 20%, as long as you’ve used the same date of birth and signature as on the postal ballot application form, you’re fine. It’s that simple, it beggars belief. Who knows how many people have set this up for the current general election.

Steps were belatedly announced in 2009 by the Government to fix the system. In future voters will have to register individually (currently one person in the household can fill the form in for everyone) and provide information such as date of birth, signature and national insurance number that can be verified through eg the social security database.

But these reforms will only be introduced in 2015 at the earliest ie probably three general elections away. Concerns abound that moving quickly to individual registration would lead to people dropping off the electoral register when voter turnout is already low. Northern Ireland’s shift to individual registrations from 2002 saw the electoral register shrink 10%, raising fears many voters had been disenfranchised. However, the Electoral Commission concluded the electoral register was much more accurate after individual registration.

Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats support moves towards individual registration but look unlikely to move any faster than Labour. If so, this is unfortunate. All parties should push to speed up this process. Concerns about low voter turnout are being overplayed. Other factors deter voting such as the MPs' expenses scandal and political parties converging on the centre ground leading to a view that little changes regardless of who’s in power.

Yet voter fraud is easy to commit and the blow to Britain’s reputation of an election being called into question would be severe. Jokes about Iran and other unsavoury regimes offering election observers would abound as they did after the 2000 US presidential election fiasco in Florida.

It's too late to change the rules for the current general election - the authorities seem to be just praying widespread fraud does not occur. But even if there are few problems this time, election rules must be overhauled in the next Parliament with the full backing of all parties.

Last updated - 21 April 2010

Ministry of Justice, Political Parties and Election Act 2009

Political Parties and Election Bill debate, Hansard, Column 653, 2 March 2009 (minister explained plans for individual registration - useful for different parties' positions)

Democracy page - Conservatives' website

Political Parties and Election Bill debate, Hansard, Column 653, 2 March 2009 (minister explained plans for individual registration - useful for different parties' positions)

Lib Dem bid to curb ‘big money’ politics blocked by Labour and Tories, 3 March 2009

Political Parties and Election Bill debate, Hansard, Column 653, 2 March 2009 (minister explained plans for individual registration - useful for different parties' positions)

 

Council of Europe, Application to initiate a monitoring procedure to investigate electoral fraud in the United Kingdom, January 2008

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Purity of Elections in the UK, Causes for Concern, April 2008