In response to the Birmingham election fraud judgement, the Government has announced an extra £10 million to help returning officers. In an article in The Scotsman, Alex Folkes, Campaigns Officer for the Electoral Reform Society asks rhetorically: "Would this extra money have allowed more than 2,500 fraudulent votes cast in Birmingham to be separated from the genuine?" and replies: "Unfortunately not. The current law does not place a duty on elections officers to make even the most basic checks to see that a postal vote is valid. Fraud is not a rare occurrence. In the past five years we have seen cases in Hackney, Guildford, Blackburn and Woking reach the courts."
Monday, April 11, 2005
Counting On Change To Stop The Cheating
In response to the Birmingham election fraud judgement, the Government has announced an extra £10 million to help returning officers. In an article in The Scotsman, Alex Folkes, Campaigns Officer for the Electoral Reform Society asks rhetorically: "Would this extra money have allowed more than 2,500 fraudulent votes cast in Birmingham to be separated from the genuine?" and replies: "Unfortunately not. The current law does not place a duty on elections officers to make even the most basic checks to see that a postal vote is valid. Fraud is not a rare occurrence. In the past five years we have seen cases in Hackney, Guildford, Blackburn and Woking reach the courts."
If you have information about election fraud in Hackney, this is the place to blow the whistle. You can contact this website confidentially by clicking on "comments" below the most recent posting and sending a comment under an anonymous or fictitious name. Unlike email, this service does not transmit any address information from which you can be traced. The service is managed by the Blogger hosting service but moderated by me, so I will read your comments before publishing and will respect any request not to publish. Bear in mind that, as I will not receive any address information, the only way I will be able to respond will be via a follow-up comment.
A word about evidence. Most of what people think is material evidence of a criminal offence is in fact either hearsay evidence (asserted, but without any proof) or circumstantial evidence (suggests guilt but does not prove it). For an introduction to the subject of evidence, try: