Postal Voting Fraud in Tower Hamlets Potential Beware

Below I list the Electoral offences

The main electoral offences as set out in the Representation of the People Act 1983 are set out below. The Act largely consolidated the offences from nineteenth century legislation and defined them as corrupt practices.
3.1 Undue influence

Section 115 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 states that an individual is guilty of undue influence if he directly or indirectly, makes use of or threatens to make use of force, violence or restraint, or inflicts or threatens to inflict injury, damage or harm in order to induce or compel any voter to vote or refrain from voting. A person may also be guilty of undue influence if they impede or prevent the free exercise of the franchise of an elector.

3.2 Personation

Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 states that a person is guilty of personation if he votes as someone else (whether that person is living, dead or is a fictitious person), either by post or in person at a polling station as an elector or as a proxy. Further, the individual voting can be deemed guilty of personation if they vote as a person they have reasonable grounds for supposing is dead or fictitious, or where they have reasonable grounds for supposing the proxy appointment is no longer in force. Vote – rigging is personation on a larger scale. The basic technique has been described as follows. Vote-riggers consult the marked registers which are available locally after every election and which show who has voted. The vote-rigger notes the names of those who never seem to vote and applies for postal votes in their names. The postal ballot papers do not have to be sent to the voter’s home address so these can be directed to the vote-rigger at another address.

3.3 Bribery

Under Section 113 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 a person is guilty of bribery if he directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf gives any money or procures any office to or for any voter, in order to induce any voter to vote or refrain from voting.

3.4 Treating

Section 114 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 states that a person is guilty of treating if either before, during or after an election, he, directly or indirectly, gives or provides or pays wholly or in part the expense of giving or providing any food, drink, entertainment or provision in order to influence corruptly any voter to vote or refrain from voting. Any elector or his proxy who accept such food, drink, entertainment or provision is also guilty of treating.
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 made provision for new offences of supplying false information to an Electoral Registration Officer and of applying for a postal or proxy vote with the intention of stealing another person’s vote by either personating another elector or by wrongfully redirecting another voter’s postal vote.

At the last election there were several matters raised including proxy votes going to wrong properties and people 'assisting' members of the public to vote. Now this weekend the postal vote final numbers will go out. This is going to investigated and any corruption or fraud will be uncovered, we live in a democracy and our fundamental rights to fair elections should not be deprived.

There were two parlimentary questions after the last election on the subject in relation to the local elections in London regarding postal voting which referred to the allegations in Tower Hamlets.

This year we want a clean election. Lets vote for anti corruption lets vote for Change!