There are elections in 107 local authorities across England today, as well as 11 mayoral races.
A by-election will elect a new Blackpool South MP, following the resignation of former Conservative, Scott Benton.
And voters across England and Wales will elect 37 police and crime commissioners (PCCs).
There are no elections in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
If you do have the chance to vote today, please do. This is a massively important election for shaping the general election to come.
And remember to take relevant ID or you will be turned away, however ridiculous that is given there is almost no evidence of there ever having been electoral frauds at UK polling stations.
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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have raised huge concerns about electoral fraud
https://www.jrrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Purity-of-Elections-in-the-UK-Executive-Summary-2008.pdf
That is not true
They have raised concerns about:
– postal votes
– under funded local authorities unable to adminsiter elections
– the fuailure to register voters
– denial of access to voting
They had not suggested there is ballot box fraud. Your claim is false
Ben, the report which you cite, and do not seem to understand, says this on its first page summary, all of which Richard has summarised:
KeyFindings
“There have been at least 42 convictions for electoral fraud in the UK in the period
2000–2007.”
So average 6 convictions per year
“Greater use of postal voting has made UK elections far more vulnerable to fraud and resulted in several instances ofl arge-scale fraud”
So not voter ID problems at the polling station
It also says:
“There is widespread, and justifiable, concern about both the comprehensiveness and the accuracy of the UK’s electoral registers–the poor state of the registers potentially compromises the integrity of the ballot.”
and…
“There is substantial evidence to suggest that money can have a powerful impact on the outcome of general elections ,particularly where targeted at marginal constituencies over sustained periods of time.”
Voter ID does nothing to address these real concerns.
It’s obvious that voter ID is designed to deter voters who are unlikely to vote Conservative. Just as In the US, where the Tories and their right wing allies learn their tricks.
Precisely
The claim was bogus and I am sure he knew it
Also. The document linked is nearly 20 years old! Not like anything has happened in the intervening years, right?
“And remember to take relevant ID or you will be turned away”
What is “relevant ID” in the UK?
In the USA the definition varies from state to state. In Florida and Kentucky, “valid ID” is Federal or State government issued photo ID.
https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/photo-id-youll-need
But it shoudn’t need you Richard to remind people.
BBC as usual failing in its ‘public service broadcaster’ role. It did mention yesterday that today is voting day – but only sporadically and without any really detailed information.
This is a very flawed democracy.
It is very revealing to compare the amount of time and effort the Tory government has put into combatting the almost non-existent attempt to corrupt the election process via voter fraud with the total lack of Tory Government interest in cleaning up the huge and very real attempt to corrupt the the election process via Social media, AI fakery and an almost endless list of malevolent actors including hostile foreign governments.
Agreed
It would be very nice if I knew who to vote for or even who the candidates are. There is only a PCC election in my area and I have not had a single leaflet through the door for any of them. The Tory one did email me this morning.
I am in Somerset and there is only the PCC election.
Last time we could nominate a second choice. In fact the candidate leading after the first count -with 34% went on to win but there was a possibility he might have been overtaken.
I suspect almost every PCC will be elected by a minority of those voting.
Indeed – the rules have been changed
I suspect ‘Ben’ is a mate of ‘James’.
As for fraud, the Tories comprehensively bent and broke the ‘laws’, especially on the last day before the 2019 election; they have also brought the Electoral Commission under their control. It would also pay to find out the owners of any voting counting organisation. Social media is now the vehicle for selective targeting of individuals and demographics using Google and other marketed personal info.
PS before I’m accused of Labour bias, I’ll just mention Anonyvoter and the conduct of Labour internal elections.
Looks like the Tories have given themselves a black eye:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/02/minister-sorry-as-veterans-find-id-card-not-valid-for-english-elections
It is worth remembering that when Major had the surprise win in the 1990s – the G’ did an article – year or so later – Tory activists had been touring old people’s homes in various constituencies and getting them to – postal vote – in favour of the tories – natch. The conclusion was, it was sufficient to swing the election – to the tories for a couple of constituencies, showing there is no depths to which the tories won’t stoop. Article is still out there somewhere.
It was polling day, but the only vote I had was for Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (I voted Green, as there were only Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and Green to choose from – I might have spoiled my paper if the choice of candidates had been even more limited).
To Ben and all apologists for abject idiocy. Think of this: Boris Johnson, the architect of ID in elections, turned up today at his polling station; and was turned away. He had forgotten his ID. Think about that for a moment; then think about what that is telling us about the nature of voting, and what ID requirements are intended to achieve. There is no evidence of systematic fraud. Here is the the conclusion of the Electoral Commission and its real research of the issue:
“In the past 5 years, there is no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud.
Of the 1,462 cases of alleged electoral fraud reported to police between 2019 and 2023, 10 led to convictions and the police issued 4 cautions.
Most cases either resulted in the police taking no further action or were locally resolved by the police issuing words of advice” (Electoral Commission website).
Quite so