Not my headline, but that of "The Times" the other day as it reported that nearly one in every seven postal votes in last year's local elections in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets may have been fraudulent. And if this wasn't enough, the article by Sir Alistair Graham, Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, expressed disquiet with the over-confident attitudes of the Department for Constitutional Affairs and The Electoral Commission who both support experiments with internet, telephone and advance voting."It is time to end the denial and complacency about the dangers facing our electoral system", said Sir Alistair. "Electoral fraud is a real and potent threat to our democracy. Can we be sure that these important elections in May will be free, fair and secure? Regrettably my answer is no."
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: