Postal vote legal bid is launched

Postal vote legal bid is launched

Legal proceedings over postal voting which could delay the general election are being launched in the High Court.

Birmingham City Council's deputy leader John Hemming is seeking a judicial review of the postal voting system.

It comes after a judge found fraud was "widespread" in the 2004 local polls in the city. He also said there were no effective safeguards in place.

A huge rise in applications for postal voting in 5 May's poll has raised fears about potential fraud.

The main parties are accused of asking voters, especially in marginal seats, to send postal vote applications to them. But they insist the practice is within the rules.

The Electoral Commission code of conduct does allow parties to send out and receive applications for postal ballots, although it says they should not handle the ballots themselves.

Mr Hemming, who is also leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Birmingham City Council and is standing in the Birmingham Yardley constituency, will ask a High Court judge for permission to review the electoral procedures supporting May's general election

He will ask the judge to rule that he has an arguable case which needs to go to a full hearing as a matter of urgency.

He said he was taking the action because of the "very real likelihood" that dozens of votes in inner city constituencies across the country could be rigged.

He claims the absence of a secure voting system breaches human rights by compromising the secret ballot.

'Banana republic'

Mr Hemming had a key role in raising allegations of local elections fraud in Birmingham in an elections court.

At the end of the case, election commissioner Richard Mawrey QC sacked six Labour councillors for vote rigging in two Birmingham wards said the scale of fraud would disgrace a "banana republic".

The Birmingham councillor is calling for all postal votes cast at the 5 May election to be counted separately from non-postal votes.

He then wants political parties to be give permission to check application forms for postal votes and for the period in which election petitions can be raised to be increased from 21 days to two months.

Talks

"I'm not trying to defer the general election but if the judge determined it was unlawful and ordered the prime minister to change the law and he didn't and that started bouncing around ... there are a lot of interesting constitutional implications.

"If it is declared unlawful, the question is 'What happens?'."

Police chiefs are due to meet senior civil servants to discuss arrangements for the general election - amid concerns about postal voting fraud.

The talks are being chaired by the most senior civil servant in the Constitutional Affairs Department and will bring together representatives from the Royal Mail, the Association of the Electoral Administrators and returning officers.

The Royal Mail has predicted that around 6.5 million people will vote by post - around 15% of the electorate compared to the 2% who voted by post in the last general election in 2001.