Jon Bright (London, OK): OurKingdom was founded partly in the belief that points of "crisis" - when flaws in the current system can no longer be ignored - provide opportunities for democratic change and reform, and that the UK might be approaching one (what Anthony has called a "good crisis"). Several potential crises have already been well documented on these pages, but the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust have released a report (opens pdf) today outlining another one: the real possibility of large scale electoral fraud in the upcoming local elections.
Austerely titled "Purity of Elections in the UK: Causes for Concern," it highlights, among other things, the importance of postal voting to our system: 15% of votes cast were postal in the last general election, which disguises enormous regional variation (fully 56% of ballots cast in Newcastle upon Tyne North in 2005 were sent by post). Everyone already knows that these votes are not very secure. Large scale postal fraud, if it were to occur, would certainly convince the government to make changes. But of what type? One worry could be that an executive enamoured of the potential of technology and committed to the notion of "multi-channel" voting (in the hopes of increased turnout) might curtail postal votes and press ahead with an extremely dubious (and potentially more vulnerable) e-voting scheme as its replacement.
Comments
This report should alarm all who believe in the fundamental efficacy of the ballot box as the default mechanism for registering any electorate's political preferences.
To some extent the findings concerning abuse of lax postal voting rules seem entirely predictable. I am sure they come as no surprise to those with even cursory knowledge of election campaigning methods. These underhand tactics also seem more applicable to local government elections.
A far more sinister and pervasive threat to the long term integrity of the UK's democratic fabric is highlighted by the report and it is the potential of money to influence general election outcomes.
I urge everyone to download the executive findings at:
http://www.jrrt.org.uk/Purity%20of%20Elections%20in%20the%20UK%20-%20Executive%20Summary.pdf
and focus on the statement -
"There is substantial evidence to suggest that money can have a powerful impact on the outcome of general elections, particularly where targeted at marginal constituencies over sustained periods of time"
Then view the following article from The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/nov/15/conservatives.partyfunding
It should now be clear from any objective perspective that the UK's adherence to single member plurality (FPTP) effectively transfers the destiny of general election outcomes to the party with the largest budget.
Individual policies and their appeal can have little influence when the results in pivotal (under FPTP) marginal constituencies are grossly distorted by targeted spending on this scale.
More than ever it now seems a truism to claim that:
FPTP = Democratic Post Code Lottery
There are other issues too. The Royal Mail and Post Office have been effectively trashed in the last few years, and this may mean that either or both may disappear altogether. There is a serious possibility that the ballots may end up being handled by some private corporation or another, which would not be democratically accountable.
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