Postal Vote open to fraud?
Headline in the news today:50 criminal inquiries nationwide amid fears bogus voters could swing election.Voter fraud could determine the outcome of the general election as evidence emerges of massive postal vote riggng. Police have launched 50 criminal inquiries nationwide amid widespread cases of electoral rolls being packed with 'bogus' voters.Officials report a flood of postal vote applications in marginal seats. With the outcome of the closest election in a generation hanging in the balance, a few thousand 'stolen' votes there could determine who wins the keys to Downing Street.Anti-sleeze campaigner Martin Bell said: 'There is actually the possibility that the result of the election coulllld be decided on electoral fraud. That's pretty grim. 'We are facing a situation where we can no longer trust the integrity of our electoral system. It was a huge mistake to extend the postal vote. It opened up our system to all kinds of frauds.' Out of a total estimated electorate of 46 million, 7 million have registered for postal votes.The Metropolitan po0lice are examining 28 claims of major abuses across 12 boroughs - with 4 separate investigations in Tower Hamlets, East London. Labour supporters stand accused of packing the electoral roll at the last minute with relatives living overseas or simply inventing phantom voters.Officials in Tower Hamlets received 5,166 new registrations just before the April 20 deadline, and there has been no time to check them all. In Bethnal Gre3en, it is feared the electoral register has been deliberately stacked with ficticious names.Yesterday The Mail visited one 4 bedroom flat in the area where 18 men are apparently claiming a vote, all of whom registered within the past month. The students living there were all baffled by name of the names said to be residing with them. Another resident was surprised to learn that 8 complete strangers were also registered as living in the small flat she shares with her partner.Other addresses investigated by The Mail were linked to The Labour Party.At a property in Rainhill Way, Bethnal Green, where Labour Party council election candidate Khales Uddin Ahmed lives with his family, 7 adults have suddenly joined the electoral roll.A few streets away, where Labour councillor Shiria Khatun is seeking re-election, her household has been boosted by 3 new voter registrations in the past few weeks. Her husband angrily slammed the door when questions were asked yesterday. The Mail's Richard Key has learned that for the first time ever the Commonwealth is dispatching a group of election monitors - more used to supervising banana republics - to scrutinise the results on Thursday.Opposition parties fer a concerted effort is being made to swing he election. Tower Hamlets Conservative councillor Peter Golds said: 'There is increasing evidence of ongoing electoral corruption. I am concerned that there will be no attempt to investigate this before election day. 'All the dodgy addresses seem to involve Bangladeshi names, and the police are terrified of investigating for fear of being branded racists.At one of the addresses, a Russion woman answers the door. How many Bangladeshi men live together with a Russian woman?'Numerous other examples of this corruption are coming to light, including a visitor from Bangladesh who arrives with a tourist visa next week, but whose postal vote has already been sent off.The problem is not confined to London. In Yorkshire, 5 police investigations ae under way in Bradford and Calderdale, where 2 arrests have already been made. In Derby, police are investigating several claims of electoral fraud, including one case where a female voter was allegedly intimated by 3 men who demanded that she fill in and sign postal votes for the Labour party. In Surrey, Tory activists have received reports theat 2 members of a rival party pretended to be Conservatives and bullied a man on a ventilator in hospital into signing over his postal vote to them. Under election law, anyone from Commonwealth countries can vote in the general elction if resident in the UK. But names can be added to the electoral roll - and become eligible for postal votes - without anyone checkng their identities or whether they are atually in the country.In 2005 around 15% of all votes were cast using a postal bote, but the Electoral Commission watchdog believes that figure will rise this time.In the last month there were 150,000 applications and in some areas, postal vote registrations have increased by 200% since 2005. Surveys of the most marginal seats, whee the election will be decided, have received a surge in postal voting.In the key marginals Edinburgh South & Barnet, postal votes are up by 60%, while Brighton has seen an increase of 40% in voter registration. In Islington, a vital Labour-LibDem marginal, the numbers of electoral roll have increased by nearly 20,000 to 135,800 in just 5 years.The Electoral Commission, which oversees the elections process, warned 7 years ago that widespread postal voting is open to fraud. But rules to ensure that every voter has to provide personal ID before joining the electral roll will not some into force for 3 years.End of article.I think it is common knowledge that postal voting is open to fraud but one wonders just how big the problem is after reading the above!
Jean F Fernandez ● 5470d5 Comments