Copy of letter to the Electoral Commission Dear Jenny Watson Most of the allegations of election irregularities in voting must surely come from bad losers who cannot comprehend that their favoured candidate has been beaten by a rival with alternative ideas. Lord Greaves admitted as much in the House of Lords debate about the so-called Gagging Bill, 22 October 2013, describing his feelings when he lost to Labour in the two 1974 General Elections. (publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131022-0002.htm#13102294000241) Very few residents in Pendle make specific allegations of voting fraud, as public consultations carried out by Pendle Borough Council have ascertained. Whatever allegations the Electoral Commission may have recorded, in my opinion the Labour Party in Pendle Lancashire has always conducted itself with utmost probity in all aspects of politics. Party officials have always complied with recommendations and guidelines issued by the Electoral Commission as agreed with the national Labour Party and if there are new recommendations and guidelines agreed then I am sure that these will be complied with too. Doubtless, we should be trying to improve our voting systems whenever possible to ensure that no election fraud is possible and Im sure we all support this. The vote is supposed to be secret and unless a voter designates a proxy to vote for them, no one else should get involved with people actually casting their vote. The Labour Party supports the forthcoming introduction of individual voter registration and it was the Slough Labour Party in 2008 who exposed a Tory councillor scam of making up loads of voters and then getting them postal votes. The worst form of election fraud and the one that people do complain a lot about is candidates and parties making promises that they do not keep. I suppose that voters should remember these broken promises next time there is an election and vote accordingly. However, the fact that there are no immediate sanctions for anyone not keeping election pledges adds to the impression of a fraudulent, rip-off Britain for voters. Its most likely due to this that voters have become more apathetic with fewer turning out to vote. The Electoral Commission says it wants to introduce an identity check at polling stations to ensure that people are not voting more than once. This seems to be more a theoretical argument than having any grounds in firm evidence. Suffice it to say that axing Labours 2006 Act to introduce identity cards and a National Identity Register was one of the first moves of the Lib Dem Tory Coalition in 2010. If such an ID check is going to be trialled in Pendle, without any national ID cards, Id say that anything other than the collection of polling cards issued by Pendle Borough Council will be time consuming for staff and voters and more than one day of voting may be appropriate as a result to ensure no one is disenfranchised. Its widely accepted that Labour voter turnout suffers when the weather is poor on polling day and Labour election campaign strategy has evolved to minimise this effect. This is done by encouraging Labour supporters to take up the postal vote option and try to ensure that others go to vote on polling day. The new proposals from the Electoral Commission are that party campaigners should not encourage voters to sign up for postal votes by producing application forms on the doorstep, help them complete their application forms or take their completed forms to the post box or the Election Office. I believe that if the Electoral Commission wish to make the voting process more objective and less prone to the vagaries of party political campaign strategies, they should seriously consider recommending compulsory voting like in Australia. In Pendle Hill District, Sydney, New South Wales, all residents have a duty to vote and it is an offence not to vote. In the 2002 Pendle Borough Council local elections the system of optional postal votes for all was first tried out. Voter turnout increased, which was what was wanted, and the system was adopted nationally as a result. [If youre not sure that you will be able to vote on polling day - this year its on Thursday 22 May - anyone can get themselves a postal vote by phoning Pendle Borough Council Elections Office on 661919.] Yours truly David Foat [email protected] Today at 11:30 AM To [email protected] Thank you for contacting the Electoral Commission. Your feedback will help us to improve our service.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 11:42:41 +0000