New measures to tackle May election fraud
Harriet Harman unveils new measures to combat voter fraud
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Monday, 27, Feb 2006 12:00
Elections minister Harriet Harman has today unveiled new measures aimed at tackling voter fraud in May's local government elections.
Electoral administration officers will write to everyone registered for a postal vote to confirm their application, to alert voters to any false applications made on their behalf.
Postal vote applicants wanting their ballot to be sent to a different address than is on the electoral register will have to explain why, and all signatures on postal votes will be checked against any other signatures held by the local authority.
The deadline for postal vote applications has also been brought forward to 11 days before the May 4th poll, compared to six days previously, to give electoral administrators more time to check the validity of the application.
"Everyone, in every community in any part of the country is entitled to their vote and to know that their vote is counted as they cast it," said Ms Harman.
"Electoral fraud is extremely rare. But fraud in any area, in any election, national or local, is a problem because it undermines confidence."
The changes, which will be reinforced by proposals in the electoral administration bill when it becomes law, follow a number of scandals last year about vote rigging.
Six Labour councillors in Birmingham were found guilty of fraud using postal votes and a Labour activist in Blackburn was jailed for three and a half years for vote rigging. A judge went on to say the postal vote system would "disgrace a banana republic".
In the forthcoming elections, 16 councils will also pilot plans for individual voter registration, where everyone eligible to vote would fill in an individual form and sign for their ballot paper. Currently this is left to the head of the household.
The Electoral Commission recommended this as a key measure to tackle voter fraud, and there has been widespread criticism of the government that its electoral administration bill does not include plans to introduce this nationwide.
Peers will this week have an opportunity to debate the new legislation, which includes other proposals to improve electoral security, including creating a new offence of falsely applying for a postal or proxy vote.
It also makes it illegal to put false information on the electoral register, while the offence of putting undue influence on someone to vote a particular way will be strengthened.
The Conservatives have welcomed such measures, but argue the absence of a nationwide roll-out of individual voter registration is a major flaw.
"Ministers have not gone far enough to safeguard our democracy," said shadow constitutional affairs secretary Oliver Heald.
"They have refused to introduce the tried and tested system of individual registration, as used successfully to cut fraud in Northern Ireland; and they have not ruled out the future use of flawed all-postal voting."