Judge upholds vote rigging claims

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4406575.stm

Some thoughts:

1. This is the sort of stuff that gives Muslims and politics in general a bad name.
2. My opinion of Roger Godsiff (who helped to blow the whistle on this) has gone up a hell of a lot.
3. I would like to say that there is something deeply ironic about a far right Islamic party with the intials "J" and "P" in them allied to Respect (last time I heard anyways) complaining about fraud although I can't because of possible libel.
4. Further investigations into vote rigging in Brum is needed. I know for a fact that these are NOT isolated cases.
5. Another review of postal voting is needed.

[Democratic Hawk]

I certainly do think that postal voting is open to fraud - but I think fraud is the rarity rather than the norm (I'm talking as a whole rather than Birmingham). However, its the candidates/councillors who need to take the consequences and not the Labour Party

I've got to admit that postal voting is not the way forward. Granted it may increase turnout but to replace the ballot box no way. Postal votes should be restricted to those, who genuinely need them, and not given on demand

I actually like the ballot box system - it's the personal touch to it that I like dropping in it then slamming your hand over the top!

Dave

[minionofmidas]

I've got to admit that postal voting is not the way forward. Granted it may increase turnout but to replace the ballot box no way. Postal votes should be restricted to those, who genuinely need them, and not given on demand

I actually like the ballot box system - it's the personal touch to it that I like dropping in it then slamming your hand over the top!

Preach it!
Outlaw that garbage, except for those in genuine need. Even without fraud as such, it erodes the secrecy of the ballot, families filling in their ballot papers together and such.

[Democratic Hawk]

I've got to admit that postal voting is not the way forward. Granted it may increase turnout but to replace the ballot box no way. Postal votes should be restricted to those, who genuinely need them, and not given on demand

I actually like the ballot box system - it's the personal touch to it that I like dropping in it then slamming your hand over the top!

Preach it!
Outlaw that garbage, except for those in genuine need. Even without fraud as such, it erodes the secrecy of the ballot, families filling in their ballot papers together and such.

I've never liked postal voting but accept they should be given to those who genuinely need them (i.e. the housebound). As for people going on holidays and stuff, they should appoint proxies. As for it boosting turnout, sure postal voting does - but it's open to abuse. Frankly, if folk can't off their arses to get the polling station it's a bad job

I love the personal touch to the ballot box - this year I'm trying to decide whether to cast the first ballot or the last

Dave

[minionofmidas]

Proxies? No, doesn't sound good (and doesn't exist here, btw.) I'm in favor of "early voting" for that, ie have a designated polling places for the whole city/district/whatever that's open for, say, two weeks before the election. They've been doing that in Frankfurt for some years (they had to open a loophole in German election law. Technically what you do is show up in person to request a postal ballot, fill in the paperwork in a voting booth set up right in the Elections Office building, put your ballot in the special postal votes envelope and pop it in a ballot box there. the votes are counted together with the normal postal votes.) Unlike postal voting, it's secret. And unlike postal voting, I've actually done it once.