Alleged Electoral Fraud in Tower Hamlets

[sierra_le_oli]

Allegations of postal voting fraud are being investigated in, among other places, my borough of Tower Hamlets.

The council said it had received 3,123 registrations in the days before the 20 April deadline, which it did not have time to check before the register closed.

Words fail.

It has searched properties where more than eight people were

Comments

[furrfu]

Surely there are procedures to either stop this happening, or to punish the people that let it happen?

[sierra_le_oli]

The procedures were loosened up in order to boost turnout. There seems to be little in place to actually check the identity of voters, whether they're voting by post or in person.

I'm having a hard time finding the exact penalty for electoral fraud. I remember people being jailed for it, but I think that's very rare.

[feetnotes]

the main check is that the signature upon the form confirming you are the person registered to cast the postal vote in question must match the signature given when the facility of casting a postal vote was chosen; you must already have been on the electoral register, or about to be entered upon it, to have the option.

there have in some previous uk elections been proven cases of party workers offering to fill in postal votes for people - especially the elderly, and voters with a poor or non-existent ability to read english - taking away the signed forms together with un-crossed ballot papers, and entering the crosses for their party's candidates later; this may not have resulted in votes being cast as the registered electors would not have intended, but is certainly illegal.
there have also been attested cases of the ballots overtly cast by "dependant women" actually having been dictated or filled in by the male head of the family - and not only in relatively recent immigrant families, neither; it has occurred in families here since -

[sierra_le_oli]

Thanks for the background. The claim is that the alleged voter fraud is caused by Bangladeshi immigrants, though even if that is proven, it fails to explain what happens in all those other boroughs under investigation which don't have similar demographics.

The argument for extending the franchise to 16 & 17 year olds currently seems to revolve around raising turnout, and I need more than that to be convinced it's a good idea. Probably a discussion worth having though.

[silly_swordsman]

O_o If only there was a national ID card, you could only vote once... Er, nevermind.

I wonder who these ghost voters were planning to vote for, though.

[sierra_le_oli]

I'm rather worried we'll find out the hard way how ghosts vote when the winners are announced...