Comment in the Yorkshire Post

Democracy at stake
Election proposals must be adopted
Yorkshire Post 27th August 2004
THE shoddy manner in which the Government introduced all-postal ballots, leading to inevitable allegations of malpractice, is exposed for all to see in the long-awaited critique published today by the Electoral Commission.

It is a hard-hitting report that should make very uncomfortable reading for those Government Ministers who erroneously insisted on holding June's council and European elections by post in four pilot areas, including Yorkshire and the Humber, against the advice of experts.

However, the key test now is the Government's response to the independent watchdog's criticisms, and whether Ministers in John Prescott's department will have the humility to admit their mistakes, or continue with the arrogance that they demonstrated prior to the elections.

Frankly, Mr Prescott has little choice if he is to restore credibility in an electoral system that his Government has done so much to undermine. He must immediately heed the Commission's advice not to hold any further pilot schemes until the watchdog has had time to finalise a definitive framework that addresses logistical issues, and the question of security.

He must also indicate that he will seek to enshrine in law other common-sense recommendations unveiled today if postal voting, as the Commission suggests in its rounded findings, is to have a successful future alongside other methods of voting.

As well as a range of overdue new criminal offences to deter fraud, the proposal that individuals should register to vote, rather than households, with each voter receiving their own security code, should be wholeheartedly welcomed.

Such a scheme will then make it unnecessary for electors to require witness statements – a move that was resented by the many who still prefer the sanctity of the ballot box, or found it difficult to find a witness.

Although the increase in votes which occurred in the June pilot is to be welcomed, such a factor, on its own, is no justification for the Government ignoring the Commission's findings.

At stake is the future of democracy, and the Government must do everything in its power to ensure that voters can have confidence in the changes or voting numbers will soon decrease again, the very opposite of what Ministers have sought to achieve.