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.
Ray Bell (not verified) said:
Mon, 2008-04-28 15:06There 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.