Calls to clean up the tarnished electoral system in the United Kingdom gathered pace last night amid findings that one in five returning officers are failing to meet standards.
A report by the Electoral Commission into June’s Euro elections revealed 73 local officers missed the target for “identifying and managing the risk of electoral malpractice”.
Most fell short because they had no written guidelines to refer to in tackling the issue.
Birmingham has had its share of electoral controversy, most recently in September when police began to investigate the worst outbreak of voter fraud at a city council election for five years.
Almost 400 postal votes cast on the Sparkbrook ward by-election – one third of the total issued – were rejected as likely forgeries.
Respect Party leader and Sparkbrook councillor, Salma Yaqoob, alerted officers in the run-up to polling day after discovering that some Respect supporters had not received their postal voting forms, amid fears that some ballot papers might well have been stolen.
Coun Yaqoob said: “I am very concerned that so many postal votes were rejected by the returning officer but the truth is that the whole postal vote system is wide open to abuse. For so long as it remains, someone, somewhere, will find a way to bend the rules.”
The Commission warned urgent action was required before next year’s General Election. It has sent town halls a list of measures to put in place for the election which is likely to feature a record number of candidates.
The report found the Euro election, despite some problems with postal ballots, was “well run” overall. A total of 46 cases of malpractice were recorded by police in Great Britain, fewer than half the 103 in the previous year’s local council elections.
