Thursday, April 14, 2005
Postal Ballots
The murky world of the Postal Ballot
O.K. so you've already read of the seven deadly sinners (Labour Councillors in Birmingham and Blackburn) who stole and fraudulently used hundreds of postal ballots for themselves, now you want to know how you can prevent your vote from being stolen or misused.
The bad guys perfected a system whereby they persuaded hundreds of voters to apply for postal ballots, and further persuaded them that they needed help with the application form (oddly enough the ballot papers never arrived at the electors address, but went elsewhere), another variation is to offer "help" to fill out the ballot paper and associated forms, thus ensuring that a vote is cast for the favoured candidate. Further misdeeds have occurred by casting votes on behalf of the recently deceased. You can see now why a judge described the system as wide open to abuse.
You can prevent these things happening!
First off, try and vote in person at your designated polling station, without using the postal ballot service; if you must use a postal ballot do not allow any representatives of any political organisation to help you with application forms or the ballot papers, make use of the services of a trusted friend or relative instead. If you need to apply for a postal ballot, do it yourself, the application must be with the Electoral Registration Officer by 5.00 p.m. Tuesday 26th. April.
To ensure that you do not receive a postal ballot you must write to the Electoral Registration Officer by 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday 19th. April making sure that you sign and date the letter or form yourself. If you have any relatives or friends who have passed away during the last twelve months, it would be a good idea to write to the Electoral Registration Officer informing him, so that their names can be removed from the Register of Electors (nobody will be able to cast votes on their behalf!)
Write to
Electoral Registration Services
South Tyneside Council
Town Hall and Civic Offices
Westoe Road
South Shields
Tyne and Wear
NE33 2RL
I am not suggesting for one minute that dishonest practises are likely to take place in South Tyneside, in fact I'm pretty confidant that they won't, but these are sensible measures and precautions to take in order to protect your secret ballot.
Further information is available on the Council's website - click here
_________________________________________________________________
O.K. so you've already read of the seven deadly sinners (Labour Councillors in Birmingham and Blackburn) who stole and fraudulently used hundreds of postal ballots for themselves, now you want to know how you can prevent your vote from being stolen or misused.
The bad guys perfected a system whereby they persuaded hundreds of voters to apply for postal ballots, and further persuaded them that they needed help with the application form (oddly enough the ballot papers never arrived at the electors address, but went elsewhere), another variation is to offer "help" to fill out the ballot paper and associated forms, thus ensuring that a vote is cast for the favoured candidate. Further misdeeds have occurred by casting votes on behalf of the recently deceased. You can see now why a judge described the system as wide open to abuse.
You can prevent these things happening!
First off, try and vote in person at your designated polling station, without using the postal ballot service; if you must use a postal ballot do not allow any representatives of any political organisation to help you with application forms or the ballot papers, make use of the services of a trusted friend or relative instead. If you need to apply for a postal ballot, do it yourself, the application must be with the Electoral Registration Officer by 5.00 p.m. Tuesday 26th. April.
To ensure that you do not receive a postal ballot you must write to the Electoral Registration Officer by 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday 19th. April making sure that you sign and date the letter or form yourself. If you have any relatives or friends who have passed away during the last twelve months, it would be a good idea to write to the Electoral Registration Officer informing him, so that their names can be removed from the Register of Electors (nobody will be able to cast votes on their behalf!)
Write to
Electoral Registration Services
South Tyneside Council
Town Hall and Civic Offices
Westoe Road
South Shields
Tyne and Wear
NE33 2RL
I am not suggesting for one minute that dishonest practises are likely to take place in South Tyneside, in fact I'm pretty confidant that they won't, but these are sensible measures and precautions to take in order to protect your secret ballot.
Further information is available on the Council's website - click here
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