More Bad News...Vote to go ahead?

Big vote to go ahead despite fraud alert
Northern Echo 27th August
Calls are being made the forthcoming referendum on a regional assembly for the North-East to be postponed in the wake of a report which recommends an end to the use of all-postal ballots.

A report published by the Electoral Commission today into accusations of widespread vote-rigging in the postal vote for June's European election says November's referendum should go ahead as planned, despite acknowledging the danger of electoral fraud.The report calls for the scrapping of all-postal ballots in future but says it is too late to safely halt a postal ballot for the North-East referendum.

Last night, Caroline Spelman, Conservative local government spokeswoman, said: "The planned regional assembly referendum in the North East in November should now be postponed, given there is insufficient time to introduce tougher anti-fraud measures."

The Electoral Commission cannot on one hand assert that there should be a moratorium on all-postal elections and then suggest that the all-postal referendum should go ahead."The only safe option is to restore the tried and trusted ballot box until the necessary safeguards have been put in place."

However, Professor John Tomaney, chair of Yes 4 the North East, said: "This referendum is a historic opportunity for the people of the North-East to bring real decision-making powers to the region and give us a chance to shape our own future."Those suggesting it should be postponed don't have the best interests of the region at heart, and are just trying to deny the people of the North- East their say."

The report was drawn up following accusations of chaos and corruption during the European elections, which led the Government to postpone ballots on proposed regional assemblies for the North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside.

Today's report recommends that all-postal pilot schemes should not continue and that future referendums on regional assemblies should not be run on all-postal lines - killing off any lingering hopes of a ballot taking place in Yorkshire and Humberside for the foreseeable future.However, it concludes that the system should be used for the North-East ballot.

The commission said: "In reaching this view, the commission is strongly influenced by the fact that the referendum process is already under way.It added: "In our view, it would be a far greater risk to the process if significant changes were to be made now than if the referendum were to continue as planned."The commission said that significant improvements had been made to the process since June.

It went on: "There is presently no evidence on which to conclude that an all-postal referendum in the North-East would be unsafe in terms of fraud or malpractice."

To the commission's knowledge, no allegations of electoral fraud made in the North-East in relation to the June all-postal pilot scheme have led to formal prosecutions."The report also praised the region's track record in handling postal ballots.

But the commission warned: "Nothing in this statement should be interpreted as offering reassurance that . . . the referendum process in the North-East will be risk free or secure a high degree of public support."

John Elliott, of the North-East Says No group, said: "The report shows that the Government is cheating the people of the North-East out of a fair vote."They are having an all-postal vote which they already know is open to fraud.