Electoral Commission 'dangerous levity' on postal voting, says UKIP MEP

Electoral Commission 'dangerous levity'

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall has warned that the Electoral Commission is exhibiting dangerous levity when it comes to concerns raised over post vote fraud.

A judge, who tries cases of electoral fraud, has warned that the postal vote system in the UK was vulnerable to fraud on an ‘industrial scale.’ However the Electoral Commission has said it would not scrap the system.

“Here you have the independent body set up to ensure elections in this country are open, democratic and clean and yet when faced with serious concerns over vote rigging and criminal electioneering, they have essentially just turned their backs on the problem,” said Mr Nuttall, North West MEP.

“There is mounting evidence of ghost voting and ballots being returned by activists adding a significant number of votes to certain candidates during elections.

“While I want to see maximum turn out with voting made as accessible as possible in the UK, we absolutely must not permit illegal behaviour during elections that would be more fitting to a developing world dictatorship. For a top judge to call our postal voting system ‘unviable’ is extremely alarming.

“Turn out will cease to be important if elections are being strategically rigged. What we must focus on is re-engaging the electorate with politics to boost turn out, and for that to happen voters need to be able to trust the system used when they go to the ballot box. If they don’t, they simply won’t bother to vote. The Electoral Commission’s apparent levity over the issue is dangerous.”